The airmen at RAF Mildenhall, Britain, who maintain the Air Force Special Operations Command MC-130 aircraft in shape have managed to trim 20 days from the time it takes them to perform an isochronal inspection. And, they’re not stopping there. The 352nd Maintenance Squadron plans to attempt to cut another 10 days or so off that. The isochronal inspectors check some 2,400 individual items when they inspect and repair 85 aircraft systems. They began using “Lean Flow” management about nine months ago to reduce the time it takes to do their job.
U.S. Air Force F-35s and F-22s regularly deploy deep into the Pacific region from Alaska, Utah, and Hawaii. In the future, though, the head of U.S. Indo-Pacific Command would like to see the Air Force permanently station fifth-generation aircraft west of the international date line—closer to China.