Improving Air Mobility Command's Aircraft Maintenance Recovery Team Process

Given the significance of Air Mobility Command's role in rapid global mobility, not just for the Air Force but for the entire DoD, the U.S. cannot afford to lose any of its strategic airlift capability. For research purposes this paper narrowly defines lost strategic airlift capability as any of the two aircraft comprising AMC's strategic airlift fleet - namely the C-5 Galaxy and the C-17 Globemaster III - broken away from their station of assignment. To repair these aircraft when broken in'the system', AMC currently utilizes a dedicated system of command and control, people, parts, and equipment, some of which is pre-positioned and some available on an as-needed basis. Known broadly as the Maintenance Recovery Team (MRT) process, the system emphasizes identifying, troubleshooting, and fixing broken aircraft as quickly as possible to maximize strategic airlift availability to DoD and other airlift customers. With this in mind, this paper will discuss AMC's strategic airlift role, identify AMC's MRT process, analyze AMC's historical MRT data for specific improvement opportunities, and, where possible, recommend improvements leading to an increase in the efficiency of AMC's MRT process.