mlf 9.1 who's who (february 2015)

U.S. Air Force LiFe cycLe MAnAgeMent center

2015

capability Deliverer

Lieutenant general John F. thompsoncommanderAir Force Life cycle Management center

Lieutenant General John F. Thompson is commander, Air Force Life Cycle Management Center, Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, Ohio. The organization is the single center responsible for total life cycle management covering all aircraft, engines, muni-tions and electronic systems.

Thompson entered the Air Force in 1984 as a graduate of the U.S. Air Force Academy. He has served in a variety of scien-tific, acquisition and logistics-oriented capacities, including staff assignments at Air Force Systems Command, Air Force Materiel Command and in the office of the Assistant Secretary of the Air Force for Acquisition.

The general has been chief of the Commodities Division, Ogden Air Logistics Center, Utah, and chief of the Air Vehicle Divi-sion, C-17 System Program Office, Wright-Patterson AFB. He also served as director of propulsion, Oklahoma City ALC, Okla., and chief of staff, Air Force Materiel Command, Wright-Patterson AFB. He has commanded the 327th Aircraft Sustainment Wing, Tinker AFB, and the 303rd Aeronautical Systems Wing, Wright-Patterson AFB, where he served as Air Force Program Executive Officer for Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance. Thompson has also served as Air Force Program Executive Officer for Strategic Systems, Deputy Program Executive Officer for the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter Program, and as KC-46 Program Director.

Prior to assuming his current position, Thompson was Pro-gram Executive Officer for Tankers, Tanker Directorate, Air Force Life Cycle Management Center, Wright-Patterson AFB.

His awards and decorations include: Defense Superior Service Medal; Legion of Merit with two oak leaf clusters; Defense Meri-torious Service Medal; Meritorious Service Medal with three oak leaf clusters; Air Force Commendation Medal with two oak leaf clusters; Air Force Achievement Medal; Air Force Outstanding Unit Award; and the Air Force Organizational Excellence Award with four oak leaf clusters.

In 1990, he was recognized with the Secretary of the Air Force Leadership Award.

Q: Let’s start with an overview of the center, its size, budget, number of programs under management, etc.

A: The Air Force Life Cycle Management Center (AFLCMC) is one of six centers reporting to Air Force Materiel Command. While AFL-CMC is headquartered at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, Ohio, the center spans nine major operating locations in the United States and dozens of satellite offices worldwide that are responsible for the “cradle to grave” life cycle of thousands of weapon systems.

Although the center is made up of just 4 percent (26,000 people) of total Air Force personnel, we’re responsible for delivering 100 percent of its non-space warfighting capabilities and executing nearly 30 percent ($48 billion) of the Air Force’s entire budget. In fact, if we were eligible for consideration, we’d be number six on the Fortune 500 list among some pretty big corporate players.

Q: With several months under your belt here at AFLCMC, have you fully established your commander’s guidance and been able to get out and see a good part of the command?

A: As of January 2015, I have visited six of our nine major operat-ing locations, and I have six more trips already planned in the first half of 2015. In my travels throughout the center, I have been continuously impressed by the dedication, hard work and pride our total force team demonstrates day in and day out supporting the warfighter.

Lieutenant General John F. ThompsonCommander

Air Force Life Cycle Management Center

Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, Ohio

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Since I assumed command, AFLCMC’s fundamental mission has not changed. My goal for the upcoming year is to stay the course on our objectives, accelerate initia-tives and avoid pitfalls that may derail our efforts. We will continue to execute the mis-sion, and we will get better at it; we must in today’s budgetary environment. We must also build for tomorrow, meet the warfight-ers’ needs and conserve taxpayer dollars.

To achieve that, my objectives for 2015 are to: (1) Deliver cost-effective solutions, (2) Deliver affordable and effective prod-uct support, (3) Launch high-confidence sustainable programs, (4) Standardize and continuously improve center processes, (5) Develop and place the right person at the right time, and (6) Assure a safe, secure, sustainable and quality work environment.

Finally, we must continue to build part-nerships with industry and other centers to be the agile life cycle force that this country needs us to be.

Q: What are the biggest challenges the center faces, and how are they being addressed?

A: Our biggest challenge is successfully executing nearly 3,000 programs with resource constraints and budgetary instability. Standardizing our processes and analyzing what things should cost will help to mitigate budget challenges, but it will be tough to resource all programs. The Air Force’s top acquisition priorities continue to be the F-35 Lightning II joint strike fighter, KC-46 Pegasus tanker and long-range strike bomber.

Q: Looking through the other end of the prism, what are some success stories that highlight the center’s capabilities?

A: In spite of resource and budget constraints, our dedicated and professional AFLCMC workforce produced many success stories throughout the last year. I’ll take time to highlight a couple examples from across the enterprise.

One ongoing effort that highlights AFLCMC’s capabilities is the center’s involvement in developing a transport isolation system to enable safe aeromedical evacuation of DoD patients in C-130 and C-17 aircraft. The transport isolation system is part of the United States’ comprehensive Ebola response efforts in West Africa. We were given a month and a half to ensure the system was safe to fly on Air Force aircraft. The AFLCMC workforce pulled together to collect and analyze test data that saved precious time. We had to determine if using the system onboard would impact the structural integrity of the aircraft, and whether the system would be safe for patients and aircrews, and we did just that. Just this month, we issued a “safe-to-fly” assessment for initial opera-tional capability of the system, allowing the execution of missions in-country.

Another example has been our role in fielding remotely piloted aircraft or RPAs. Currently, there are more than 340 USAF RPAs

used in training and operations around the world. The MQ-1 RPA provides persistent ISR (intelligence, surveillance, reconnais-sance), target acquisition and strike capability against critical time-sensitive targets; the MQ-9 performs find, fix, track, target, engage and assess missions; and the Global Hawk provides con-tinuous, high-altitude long-endurance, all-weather, day/night, wide-area reconnaissance and surveillance. Collectively, RPAs just passed 2.4 million hours of flight time. The AFLCMC enterprise contributed to the design, development and evolution of these remotely piloted aircraft. And we’re posturing for the future, as RPAs and even autonomy are growth industries.

A final example effort that highlights AFLCMC’s capabilities is our direct involvement in the Afghanistan train and equip mission. In 2014, AFLCMC was heavily involved in the Light Air Support acquisition process for 20 A-29 Super Tucano aircraft in preparation for the Afghanistan pilot and maintenance training mission. The A-29 is a light air support training aircraft that will be used to train 30 Afghan pilots and 90 Afghan maintainers as part of a requirement from the International Security Assistance Force to conduct training outside of Afghanistan. AFLCMC’s multifaceted support of this training mission includes planning and acquisition of training for USAF air advisors, ground train-ing for Afghan pilots, and on-the-job training for Afghan aircraft maintainers. AFLCMC accepted the first three aircraft and ground training devices within the past quarter and worked closely with Air Education and Training Command (AETC) to accomplish on-site activation of the Afghanistan pilot and maintenance training at Moody AFB, Ga.

We are currently planning the transition of the A-29 to Afghan-istan beginning in 2016 to include managing the acquisition of all required training and operational munitions.

Q: It seems that with the work that AFLCMC manages, it would be a target for cyber intrusion. How much of a concern is that, and

AFLCMC delivers 100 percent of the Air Force’s non-space warfighting capabilities and executes nearly 30 percent—about 48 billion—of the Air Force’s entire budget. [Photo courtesy of U.S. Air Force]

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2015

Col. Ray LindsayLogistics Directorate

Brig. Gen. Shaun MorrisAF Security

and Cooperation

Ralph GarciaPropulsion

John ArtusoAcquisition Directorate

Lt. Col. Ronjon AnnaballiProgram Development & Integration Directorate

Lt. Gen. John F. Thompson

Commander

Brig. Gen. T. Glenn Davis

Mobilization Assistant

Thomas M. ZerbaDirector of Staff

Col. Teresa A. Quick Vice Commander

Chief Master Sgt. Doreen L. Losacco

Command Chief

Col. Justin SmithGuard Advisor

Patsy ReevesExecutive Director

Headquarters

directorates and support


Eric DilworthPersonnel Directorate

Gavin KetchenActing Director

Intelligence Directorate

Lt. Col. Robert Dietrick

Inspector General

Lynn EvistonPlans & Programs

Directorate

Col. John M. Devillier88 ABW

Commander

Jorge GonzalezEngineering Directorate

Col. James PeavySafety

Thomas RobinsonContracting Directorate

Col. Dawn HankinsStaff Judge Advocate

Col. Michael A. Vogel66 ABG

Commander

Kevin W. BuckleyMobility

Col. Gregory McNewAgile Combat Support

Maj. Gen. Scott W. Jansson

Armament

Maj. Gen. Craig S. Olson

C3I & Networks

Col. Michael SchmidtISR/SOF

Steven D. WertBattle Management

Brig Gen. Eric T. FickFighters and Bombers

Brig. Gen. Duke Z. Richardson

Tanker

Brig. Gen. Daryl J. Hauck

Strategic Systems

Robert ShofnerBusiness &

Enterprise Systems

Col. David PeelerFinance Directorate

Joan ColeSmall Business

directorates and support

peo

what are the challenges with staying ahead of the bad guys?

A: Cyberspace is unfolding as the newest frontier for conflict. Part of the challenge is that cyber is always evolving. As a result, the United States needs weapon systems geared for that fight, and AFLCMC plays a prominent role.

Q: How do you see the center harnessing the synergies of the industrial community with the qualities of the organic workforce to drive efficiencies and productivity?

A: AFLCMC is supporting the Air Force of today and building the Air Force of tomor-row. We must continue to deliver capabilities at reduced cost, drive cost-effective execu-tion, create greater agility in our resource-constrained environment, build stronger industry partnerships and continue to build for tomorrow. In addition, we must con-tinue to support our industrial base, taking the innovation and creativity that industry provides us, and allowing our organic workforce to run with those innovations so that we have the edge to meet the future needs of our warfighters.

Q: You’ve spent the last several years working tanker programs. Are you satisfied with the KC-46 progress and getting it ever closer to in-service?

A: The KC-46 remains a top acquisition priority in the Air Force. Acquiring the KC-46 provides a 20th-century aerial refueling capa-bility and allows us to retire an aging tanker fleet. It is truly the sixth generation of tankers. It will have significant refueling capacity, improved efficiency, and increased cargo and aeromedical evacua-tion capacities. In addition to being more capable, the KC-46 will have higher mission-capable rates and less maintenance downtime, further assuring our nation’s global reach.

The U.S. Air Force and Boeing successfully completed the first flight of the KC-46 tanker test program on December 28, 2014. The plane, a Boeing 767-2C variant, took off from Paine Field, Wash., at 9:29 a.m. (PST) and landed three hours and 32 minutes later at Boeing Field. Following FAA certification flights, the 767-2C aircraft will undergo additional finishing work at the Boeing facility, such as installing the refueling boom and other military specific equipment, to missionize for the KC-46 requirements.

The second development aircraft (EMD #2) will be a full-up KC-46 and is expected to fly for the first time later this year, upon successful completion of manufacturing and check-out.

I, like many of the Air Force leadership, remain “cautiously optimistic” Boeing will deliver the first 18 KC-46As, fully certified to deliver fuel, in August 2017. The program has one flight under its belt and will ramp-up flight testing through the summer, leading to the event-based Milestone C review which kickstarts the low-rate initial production.

Q: Are you optimized with the structure of 10 PEOs? Do you see benefits to either decreasing the number or adding an office?

A: The AFMC restructure that culminated in a five, and now six, center construct also enabled the Air Force’s Senior Acquisition Executive (SAE) to streamline the PEO structure for a more optimal portfolio alignment. The benefits from the new construct are signifi-cant as we standardize and institutionalize our processes.

Q: Has the level of Foreign Military Sales been fairly constant over the past year or so? Which direction do you see it trending?

A: Yes, our Foreign Military Sales (FMS) have been fairly constant over the past year or so in terms of dollars, as we have supported our FMS partners. We support over 100 countries with 2,757 cases valued at $152 billion and we look forward to continuing to build on our FMS successes going forward.

Q: Any closing thoughts?

A: Right now, across the globe, U.S. air forces, sister services and partner air forces are engaged with enemy forces. They are rescuing the helpless, keeping vigilant watch 24/7, providing humanitarian aid and defending freedom around the world. All of those airmen are depending upon weapons systems that were developed, contracted for and supported day in and day out by people here at AFLCMC. Every aircraft, munition, radar, business IT system, jet engine and ISR system counts on the men and women assigned to AFLCMC, regardless of their role.

Although we still face challenges with budget reductions and sequestration, we are committed to continuous improvement and supporting and building the capabilities of the Air Force for today and tomorrow. O

The AFMC restructure that culminated in a five, and now six, center construct also enabled the Air Force’s Senior Acquisition Executive to streamline the PEO structure for a more optimal portfolio alignment. The benefits from the new construct have been described as “significant” and allowed the centers to standardize and institutionalize their processes. [Photo courtesy of U.S. Air Force]



Public-private partnerships (PPPs), as used by the U.S. military, are all about organic capabilities. Historically, these part-nerships have promoted the utilization of facilities and equipment, technology infu-sion and collaboration with industry part-ners. In the Air Force, PPPs have allowed the Air Logistics complexes to play a major role in the sustainment of major weapon systems such as the C-17, F-22 and F-35 aircraft and the F117, F119 and F135 engines.

Public-private partnerships are an important aspect of the Air Force’s sustain-ment strategy. The concept may a get a boost this year with the award of an enter-prise performance-based logistics contract to Honeywell, which will combine a number of contracts under one umbrella for the sus-tainment of 17 separate platforms, a number unheard of to this point.

A pending Air Force contract, the Space and Missile Systems Center’s (SMC) Consoli-dated Air Force Satellite Control Network (AFSCN) Modifications, Maintenance and Operations (CAMMO), takes public-private partnerships to a different level by seeking to develop an organic Air Force software capability through a PPP.

CAMMO also involves an effort to consolidate the activities currently being performed under several contracts. “The acquisition will combine contracted services for network operations, maintenance and sustainment into a single contract vehicle,” said Bruno Mediate, Air Force SMC CAMMO project manager. “This integration of related

AFSCN weapon system services enables a prime CAMMO contractor to optimize resources in order to provide the required services to support operations of over 170 national security and civil satellites.”

“PPP is a concept that can be imple-mented through a wide array of contractual vehicles and collaborative programs,” said Shannon Wagner, lead analyst for public-private partnering at the Air Force Sus-tainment Center. “From performance-based logistics arrangements such as the C-17, F-22 and F-35, to our private partners’ ongoing DoD contracts, the utilization of PPPs is vital when it comes to developing cost-effective and war-winning capabilities [for] our warfighters. Public-private partner-ships are a critical initiative in the Department of Defense and Air Force workload sus-tainment systems. PPP is one of the Air Force’s strategic cornerstones for depot main-tenance.”

“PPPs are invaluable across the Air Force enter-prise,” added Misty Goss, an analyst at the Ogden Air Logistics Complex. “The Ogden Air Logistics Complex currently has partnership agreements with 24 companies and [is] partnered on 43 workloads. Sixty percent of the partnerships provide performance-based logistics support for major weapon systems such as C-17, F-22, F-35, unmanned aircraft systems and

logistics support for auxiliary power units. The remaining 40 percent of partnerships were implemented as business development initiatives.”

“PPPs have benefited the Air Force through reductions in total program costs through integrated development and test efforts, shared resources and increased effi-ciencies by sharing best practices, joint improvements and reduced investments in duplicative capabilities,” said Wagner.

CAMMO, which is currently in the request for proposal development phase, includes a requirement to establish a public-private partnership between a prime contrac-tor and the Ogden Air Logistics Complex’s 309th Software Maintenance Group (OO-

ALC’s 309 SMXG). “CAMMO’s public-private partnership requirement is explicitly for the software maintenance of two major AFSCN sub-system configuration items,” said Mediate, “the Electronic Schedule Dissemination version 3.0 subsystem soft-ware and the Remote Block Change subsystem software. Both of these software con-figuration items received a

core determination which identifies organic depot maintenance capability requirements for designated systems.”

For ESD version 3.0 and RBC subsys-tem software, this requires establishing an organic software maintenance capability.

By Peter BuxBaum, mLF CorresPondent

Bruno Mediate



As a result, these were selected for a public-private partnership to initiate organic depot repair capability. Congressional legislation required the development of the organic software maintenance capability. U.S. law also requires a minimum of 50 percent of all depot maintenance workload across the Air Force to be performed organically.

“CAMMO’s public-private partnership requirement intends to leverage the invest-ment made by the Air Force on the Satellite Control Network Contract, which is the current AFSCN sustainment contract,” said Mediate. “This contract had previously estab-lished a public-private partnership require-ment between OO-ALC’s 309 SMXG and the current SCNC prime contractor, Honeywell Technology Solutions Inc., for both ESD and RBC software maintenance. There is a cadre of 309 SMXG government person-nel working under a direct sales partnering agreement with Honeywell on ESD 3.0 soft-ware. The goal is to continue to grow organic capability for both ESD 3.0 and RBC soft-ware maintenance in the com-ing years.”

“CAMMO represents a change that we have been see-ing over the last few years,” said Mark Greyson, the CAMMO capture manager at Lockheed Martin, a poten-tial bidder on the contract. “We have been exposed to these types of public-private partnerships on a number of contracts, including at the corporate level, and we have found they have been good partnerships for us.”

Last year, Lockheed Mar-tin and the U.S. Air Force Sustainment Center signed a partnership agreement that establishes a common frame-work and pre-negotiated terms and conditions for long-term partner-ship work efforts. With that public-private agreement, Lockheed Martin is enabled to immediately execute specific implementa-tion agreements with the Air Force Sustain-ment Center (AFSC) and their air logistics complexes (ALCs), reducing costs and allow-ing for faster implementation of agreements.

Honeywell Defense and Space has two shining-star performance-based logistics programs—Total Logistics Solutions with

the Navy, and Secondary Power Logistics Solutions with the Air Force—that it is pro-posing to expand into a 10-year, enterprise-level contract. “Essentially, it is a 10-year, performance-based logistics contract that will span across 17 different aircraft plat-forms and across multiple depots for the Air Force, Navy and Army,” said Heath Pat-rick, vice president for defense aftermarket Americas at Honeywell Defense and Space. “Basically, this program would be a large enterprise PBL, like our existing PBLs with the Navy and Air Force on steroids.”

The Honeywell proposal is for an end-to-end management system focused on driving key metrics within sustainment processes, such as safety, quality delivery and productiv-ity. “We will identify specific projects where we can save money with make versus buy decisions,” said Patrick. “There are also areas where we can go in and help the government reduce costs by improving logistics program

management, demand plan-ning, kitting and other logis-tics processes in maintaining a depot.”

Patrick anticipates the firm-fixed-price proposal will reduce the govern-ment’s spending on spare parts inventory by 75 percent and lower back orders by as much as 100 percent. Hon-eywell’s Air Force program closed 2014 with record per-formance results, including reducing back orders down to zero, according to Patrick.

The concept of the enter-prise PBL was the result of discussions among Hon-eywell, its armed services customers, and the Defense Logistics Agency (DLA) over a period of years. DLA took the lead on the program and issued Honeywell a sole-

source request for proposal last year, to which Honeywell recently responded.

The Air Force and the Air Force Sus-tainment Center are constantly looking for innovative ways to improve the partnering concept, according to Wagner. “PPP stan-dardization and enterprise partnerships are two of the ways the AFSC has improved PPPs,” she said. “Standardization in the PPP process enables opportunities for the air logistics complexes to accommodate or

sustain additional Department of Defense workloads in an expedited manner.”

Historically, the development of an AFSC PPP took anywhere from 12 to 16 months. The new standardized process has reduced the development and implementation by eight to 10 months. “Time saved due to the standardization is invaluable when working with private partners that are on contract to deliver war-winning capabilities to the warf-ighters on schedule,” said Wagner.

The AFSC has also implemented an enterprise strategy for PPP management and process improvement with the establishment of an AFSC PPP Team, a group that includes PPP and legal experts from AFSC and all three ALCs as well as functional subject-matter experts. “The AFSC PPP team meets regularly to negotiate enterprise partnership agreements, share best practices and develop innovative solutions for the PPP process and sustainment issues,” said Wagner.

“The trend has been that more and more of these sustainment programs have pub-lic-private partnership requirements,” said Greyson. “It is clear that the government wants to ensure that it retains, and in some cases acquires, organic sustainment capabili-ties. As the government folks who will work on CAMMO progress along their careers and move to acquisitions and program manager roles, they will have better insight into soft-ware processes and how contractors work because they were embedded in contractor work groups. That builds a good understand-ing for partnerships going forward. We like this collaboration with the government and we are really committed to it.”

“With the nature of today’s threats to national security and the challenges of sus-taining military readiness during this period of budgetary decline, PPPs will continue to be a viable means for workload sustainment in the future,” said Wagner. “The AFSC will continue to fine-tune and make improve-ments to the PPP process in a manner in which cost-savings and war-winning capa-bilities will not be diminished.”

As far as CAMMO is concerned, the SMC anticipates issuing the CAMMO RFP in the first quarter of calendar year 2015, followed by a contract award decision 10 to 12 months the after RFP release. O

For more information, contact Editor-in-Chief Jeff McKaughan at [email protected] or search our online archives for related stories

at www.mlf-kmi.com.

Mark Greyson

Heath patrick



The Air Force is preparing to acquire a replacement for the MM III inter-continental ballistic missile system (ICBM) that replaces the entire flight system, retains the silo basing mode while recapitalizing the infrastructure and implements a new weapon system command and control (WSC2) system. The overarching focus of the modifications and replacements is geared toward minimizing associated maintenance/logistics impacts.

The new weapon system will use the existing Mk12A and Mk21 reentry vehicles in the single and multiple RV configurations. The remainder of the missile stack will be replaced.

The government is exploring options to renovate the launch control centers (LCC) and launch facilities (LF) to “like new” condition by having them undergo selective modernization and receive enhanced security features. The government is also exploring options to reduce/streamline the current LCC/LF architecture. In addition, a new WSC2 system will be imple-mented to increase flexibility and reduce life cycle costs while maintaining stringent nuclear surety and cybersecurity requirements. Support equipment may also be modified or replaced to accommodate the revised weapon system (e.g., C2, power, environmental, transportation and handling equipment).

To this end, the Air Force Life Cycle Management Center (AFLCMC) has released a request for information intended to gather information and feedback from potential sources as a part of market research for an MM III (ground-based strategic deterrent (GBSD) system).

GBSD affordability, flexibility and adaptability over a 50-year life cycle will require a number of system-level features, including: the capacity to incorpo-rate new technologies, manage complex infrastructure scheduling, accom-modate flexible deployment strategies, and leverage system and program commonality/collaboration with other strategic platforms. To address this, the Air Force hopes to implement a modular systems architecture within the

constraints of nuclear surety. Modularity as a key feature at all levels of the GBSD system architecture.

The objective of the GBSD program strategy is to deliver a full weapon system capability that meets or exceeds the requirements beginning delivery in the fiscal year 2027 time frame and completing deployment by the end of the FY34 time frame.

InFrastruCture restoratIon and modernIzatIon

ICBM MM III facilities were built approximately 50-plus years ago and, in large part, no significant assessment has been conducted to validate the health and viability of the facilities necessary to meet mission needs, now through 2075. The infrastructure restoration and modernization (security enhancements) is designed to re-baseline the launch and control facilities to MM III standards while modifying these sites to accommodate the GBSD Flight and WSC2 ground equipment.

A first step is to identify methods to evaluate earth-buried facility infrastructure to determine replacement/refurbishment actions. A thorough investigation of the existing 50-year-old MM III launch and control facilities will be conducted to ensure the restoration effort addresses both known and unknown mission issues. The restoration and modernization effort will be compatible with the current MM III and GBSD requirements.

AFLCMC is considering using contract support for conducting a thorough assessment in the near-term (beginning in FY16). The actual restoration and modernization project will be executed beginning in approximately 2022.

WeaPon system Command & ControL and Ground

The ICBM WSC2 architecture is increasingly difficult to sustain due to an industrial base which has advanced beyond the technologies and architec-ture currently employed. This hinders the efforts to modify or modernize the current WSC2 system seeking to employ new operational, maintenance and security concepts. The GBSD acquisition program will focus on approaches to modernize the messaging system, protocols, terminal equipment and operating system while addressing risk throughout all phases of imple-mentation to a multilayer network. A modernized WSC2 and ground equip-ment upgrades will facilitate a flexible construct to monitor, direct and, if authorized, execute forces. Networks will be expanded beyond the existing transport method in a distributed-type network that allocates weapon system data to appropriate users. In addition, new integrated command centers will provide a single hub necessary to capture missile complex activities and critical weapon system statuses and serve as a platform to execute forces. O

PreParInG to reCaPItaLIze and eventuaLLy rePLaCe the mInuteman III.

The Air Force Life Cycle Management Center is managing the Minuteman III system and infrastructure. The new ground-based strategic deterrent system will build on that foundation. [Photo courtesy of U.S. Air Force]

For more information, contact Editor-in-Chief Jeff McKaughan at [email protected] or search our online archives for related stories

at www.mlf-kmi.com.



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