# DLA Aviation Support to the Unsung Workhorse Aircraft 

/ Published Oct. 3, 2018
RICHMOND, VA, Defense Logistics Agency Aviation** Training Wheels**DLA Troop SupportDLA Land and Maritime
                The Air Force uses the T-38 for joint specialized undergraduate pilot training. DLA Aviation manages roughly 70 percent of the more than 18,000 parts for the plane’s jet engines.                            180329-F-HK496-0062                            The Air Force uses the T-38 for joint specialized undergraduate pilot training. DLA Aviation manages roughly 70 percent of the more than 18,000 parts for the plane’s jet engines.            SHARE IMAGE:Download ImageImage DetailsPhoto By: Air Force Staff Sgt. Ramon A. AdelanVIRIN: 180901-D-YE683-015**Mythical Effort**Cue the C-130 Hercules, a plane the Air Force calls the workhorse of its combat airlift fleet. It can transport more than 40,000 pounds of cargo and supplies, from helicopters to armored vehicles to military personnel.It’s a plane Mike Brown is very familiar with.“I was a flight engineer and loadmaster for C-130s when serving with the military and as a Lockheed employee in Saudi Arabia and Kuwait before joining DLA,” he said.Brown’s been with DLA for 17 years. He’s now the C-130 weapon system program manager for DLA Aviation Customer Operations Directorate’s Air Force Customer Facing Division.“The mighty Herc has been part of my life for over 30 years,” he said proudly. Brown and the eight customer account specialists on his team manage logistics support for more than 1,200 C-130s operated by various branches of the military, as well as 19 foreign nations. Lockheed, the maker of the C-130, has produced many variants of the plane over the past 60-plus years: ski-equipped Antarctic variants, Special Operations Forces aircraft with heavy weapons, stretch versions and medical versions. The latest variant is the C-130J Super Hercules. Brown said the team manages 166,242 parts associated with the plane’s airframe, including skins, stringers, spars, panels, instruments, electronics and hardware. The team also manages close to 12,000 National Stock Numbers for the plane’s four engines. He said obtaining parts for the legacy models is mostly competitive, while the new variant is largely sole source. Brown said the many changes throughout the model series mean there are little-used parts that have been out of production for decades. Acquiring them is often difficult and expensive. Diminishing manufacturing resources and obsolescence of technical data create hurdles as well. But Brown and his team have found ways to overcome these obstacles. For example, he and his team are reverse engineering some obsolete structural-support items and electrical/electronic components. “Specifications and standards that were written 50 years ago do not translate well to modern materiel and manufacturing methods,” Brown said. He said with the help of Navy, Air Force and DLA engineers, the team has updated these to reflect current manufacturing capabilities.“I get great satisfaction in supporting this platform and doing a small part in ensuring it is ready and able to support the warfighter’s mission every day,” Brown said.**Out of This World**As the Air Force’s largest and only strategic airlifter, the C-5 Galaxy can carry more cargo farther than any other aircraft. With four engines, the cargo jet can carry up to 135 tons. It can fly close to 5,000 miles without in-flight refueling, with a load of 60 tons.

                A Marine Corps C-130 Hercules departs from an undisclosed location. DLA Aviation, headquartered in Richmond, Virginia, manages tens of thousands of parts associated with the plane.                            180901-D-YE683-016                            A Marine Corps C-130 Hercules departs from an undisclosed location. DLA Aviation, headquartered in Richmond, Virginia, manages tens of thousands of parts associated with the plane.            SHARE IMAGE:Download ImageImage DetailsPhoto By: Air Force Staff Sgt. Brandi HansenVIRIN: 180901-D-YE683-016Lockheed delivered the first operational C-5A Galaxy to the Air Force in June 1970. There are now 52 C-5B/C/M models in the Air Force’s arsenal, based at Dover Air Force Base, Delaware; Travis Air Force Base, California; Lackland Air Force Base, Texas; and Westover Air Reserve Base, Massachusetts.Jeff Goldston is the C-5 weapon system program manager for DLA Aviation’s Air Force Customer Facing Division, Customer Operations Directorate.“Being the C-5 WSPM is like an extension of my service commitment to our nation’s warfighters,” he said. Goldston spent a great deal of time around the C-5 during his 20-year career in the Air Force, including several deployments to Guam, Hawaii, Alaska and the United Kingdom before retiring in 2002. He said his primary focus is the overall health of the weapon system. He uses automated tools, conducts detailed analyses and coordinates with his counterparts at DLA and the military services to ensure DLA parts and services are available when and where needed. Goldston and three customer account specialists for the C-5 also maintain long-term contract coverage for the more than 74,000 parts DLA Aviation manages for the airframe and engines. These include floor panels, slat seals, skins, escape slides and fuselage-to-vertical-stabilizer fittings.With the Air Force planning to fly the C-5 at least until 2040, Goldston said maintainers are seeing failures on some parts that have never broken before. And many of the original contractors that manufactured the aircraft parts in the 1970s are no longer in business. With new contractors submitting quotes to make these parts, engineers require them to perform first-article testing before they can start contractual production. Goldston said this testing causes delays in production, extending administrative and production lead times to support customer requirements. Despite the challenges of extending the service life of the C-5, Goldston said he’s dedicated to keeping it flying for decades to come. “Each day I ask myself, ‘What can I do here in DLA Aviation to support our troops who put their lives on the line each day?”It’s a question quietly answered every day through the commitment of people across DLA Aviation.