Wing maintenance, logistics to merge with operations

5/21/2008 - WASHINGTON (AFPN) -- On May 12, Air Force Chief of Staff Gen. T. Michael Moseley signed the Global Wing Structure Program Action Directive 08-01. PAD 08-01 directs the realignment of fighter, rescue and bomber aircraft maintenance units under flying squadrons.

The Air Force will implement these changes between July 1 and Nov. 30. Major command officials will determine on what specific dates each participating wing will implement these changes.

"I believe the most effective formula is to structure Air Force units by mission and not by function, and aligning maintenance units responsible for sortie generation together with the flying squadrons they support is best for our Air Force," General Moseley said when he made the announcement for such changes Dec. 7. "Aircraft maintenance is a vital element of a flying squadron's mission, and the maintainers who directly support sortie generation belong in that chain of command."

Maj. Gen. Robert H. McMahon, director of maintenance, deputy chief of staff for logistics, installations and mission support, believes these changes will strengthen the relationship between operators and maintainers.

"The difference is comparable to the relationship between neighbors and family," he said. "You know your neighbors, but not as well as you know your family. You have a general idea of what your neighbors are doing, but it's not the same as what you know about your family. By marrying up these units, we will be better connected with each other and better able to understand each other's challenges and strengths."

Aligning aircraft maintenance units responsible for sortie generation together with the flying squadrons they support provides combatant commanders with the most complete and capable fighting squadrons possible, officials said. It also allows the operations group commander to focus on the generation and employment of airpower. In short, it generates the mission generation command chain.

A new materiel group at wing-level will create a new structure that is aligned to better support the logistics enterprise, flying wings and combatant commanders. The logistics readiness squadron, aerial support squadron and the remaining maintenance squadrons form the materiel group and will consolidate traditional logistics functions under a single logistics leader in the wing. The global wing structure also positions the logistics community for future transformation initiatives.

"The squadron is the building block of Air Force organizational structure, and they must be organized for success," General Moseley said. "These initiatives allow us to take advantage of process improvements, pool our resources and reorient our squadrons around our mission."

In the past, the Air Force used an 'objective wing' structure that merged maintainers and operators. However, there are differences between the objective wing structure and the new one. Major transformation initiatives are recasting how the Air Force is organized. Manpower reductions and budget challenges have led to many centralization and consolidation or regionalization initiatives.

Source: http://www.af.mil/news/story.asp?id=123099672

Liberty Wing leads the way in global wing reorganization

by Airman 1st Class Kristopher Levasseur
48th Fighter Wing Public Affairs

5/9/2008 - ROYAL AIR FORCE LAKENHEATH, England -- The 48th Fighter Wing will undergo a major change in its maintenance and flying operations July 7, as the 48th Maintenance Group, Operations Group and Logistics Readiness Squadron reorganize into the Global Wing Reorganization concept.

Air Force Chief of Staff Gen. Michael Moseley directed December 7, 2007 that all Air Force active-duty, Reserve and Air National Guard wings adopt the new standard wing structure to enhance the service's war-fighting capabilities.

"There are a lot of changes with the reorganization," said Maj. Greg Buckner, 48th Maintenance Operations Squadron commander. "The 48th MXG will be changing its name to the 48th Materiel Group and dividing the 48th Aircraft Maintenance Squadron among the individual squadrons in the 48th OG."

The 48th AMXS currently has more than 800 Liberty warriors and works on aircraft from the three F-15 fighter squadrons and the 56th Rescue Squadron.

"The purpose of the reorganization is to functionally organize the flying groups and squadrons so that we have everything we need to produce flyable aircraft and fly those aircraft under one command," said Lt. Col. Troy Stone, 48th OG deputy commander. "The maintainers, who are required to fix and maintain the aircraft, are now under the same commander as the people who fly the aircraft."

Additionally, more than 115 members of the 48th MOS will be divided into the 48th OG and the 48th MTG and the 48th Logistics Readiness Squadron will move from the 48th Mission Support Group to the 48th MTG.

"I think that anytime you take a large group of people with the same focus and put them under a single organization, you will get a better product," said Colonel Stone.

According to Colonel Stone, personnel from maintenance and flying operations already fall under one commander when they deploy. The reorganization just makes it the same in garrison.

"The evolution of operations and maintenance has been cyclical over the years," said Major Buckner. "We have made changes like this in the past and both ways work well. The mission will continue to be accomplished and there will be a synergy gained with the combination."

Source: http://www.lakenheath.af.mil/news/story ... =123098046

Secretary delays global wing organizational structure
A final implementation decision will not be made until after the secretary has conducted these discussions.
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Air Force halts wing reorganization

9/4/2008 - WASHINGTON (AFPN) -- Air Force leaders halted plans to perform a global wing restructure which was designed to realign fighter, bomber and rescue airlift maintenance units into flying squadrons.

Maintenance and flying squadrons will remain separate and will continue doing business "as they have for the past four or five years," said Lt. Gen. Kevin Sullivan, deputy chief of staff for logistics, installations and mission support here at the Pentagon.

"I believe there are two main reasons for this decision," he said. "First, there was senior leader consensus that our maintenance personnel will be better able to maintain and hone their core competencies if they are led by maintenance professionals up through the group level. Second, there was also consensus that it's important to reduce the amount of turmoil and change within the Air Force at this time. Not implementing the global wing restructure will help provide that stability we're looking for"

Units across the Air Force were directed last December to implement the merge of maintenance and operations between July 1 and Nov. 30. However, acting Secretary of the Air Force Michael B. Donley directed a delay to have an opportunity to discuss the appropriateness and timeliness of these changes with Air Force leaders. At an Aug. 27 summit, it was a major topic of discussion.

"The original idea driving the wing restructure was to improve knowledge, understanding and interoperability between ops and maintenance," said General Sullivan, "and while the merge will no longer happen, we still plan to offer the training we developed to facilitate implementation of the new wing structure as a continuing means to improve the ops-maintenance interface. We're also looking at other ways to strengthen that ops - maintenance bond within the existing wing structure."

The general said he appreciates the people who worked so hard to gear up for the wing restructuring.

"We started from a standing start in December of 07, and everything was ready to go by July of 08" he said. "I don't think there's ever been a major reorganization so fully planned and coordinated any faster. In addition, I believe all the planning, all the discussions and debate that occurred during that process were good for our Air Force. It forced us to look at areas to improve, how to build better teamwork and we can leverage what we learned in the existing organizational framework as well."

Source: http://www.af.mil/news/story.asp?id=123113790