Letterkenny support 35th Air Defense Artillery

Courtesy Photo | Letterkenny’s Fern Naugle, one of the electronic integrated systems mechanics providing support to the 35th ADA Battalion, scrapes and sands the interior walls of a shelter. (Courtesy Photo)  

LETTERKENNY ARMY DEPOT, PA, UNITED STATES

10.06.2017

Courtesy Story

U.S. Army Aviation and Missile Command

By Janet S. Gardner, Public Affairs, Letterkenny Army Depot

Ready. Willing. Able.

Three words synonymous with Letterkenny Army Depot for more than 75 years.

Three words that describe the Depot workforce’s dedication to Soldier support.

Three words that produce successful outcomes.

Yes, the depot stood ready to support a directive from the Vice Chief of Staff of the Army to modernize forward-stationed Patriot forces as soon as possible. LEAD’s workforce was more than willing to support this priority effort to upgrade and modernize the 35th Air Defense Artillery Brigade Patriot missile system equipment to the latest configuration, C3+. And, not only was Letterkenny able to complete the mission by the target date of September, but also it pulled out all the stops and accomplished the mission two weeks ahead of schedule.

The major modification effort included two Patriot Battalions’ major end items and one Operational Readiness Float asset. This seven-month effort was comprised of a total of nine Engagement Control Stations, nine Radar Sets, two Information Control Centrals, six Communications Relay Groups, and eight Battery Maintenance Centers.

Raytheon, the Lower Tier Project Office and Letterkenny understood the magnitude of this effort and the fact that any single one of these modifications would be a major mission in itself, but installing all of these simultaneously was an huge undertaking. A modernization of this size had not been accomplished since the 1990s.

This was a depot-level modernization effort, where teams actually brought Patriot systems into a large building and tore them down to nothing and basically rebuilt them with new components according to Col. Mark Holler, commander of the 35th ADA.

At the helm of that effort was LEAD, the Department of Defense’s Center of Industrial and Technical Excellence for Air Defense and Tactical Missile Ground Support Equipment. The Directorate for Industrial Operations’ Jim Woolf and Tom Gagahan were instrumental in the planning and coordination efforts with Raytheon and LTPO that produced and executed an aggressive, mission-focused schedule to accomplish the objectives set forth.

“It wasn't a matter of whether or not we could do it, it was how and when to execute,” said Woolf.

He referred to Gahagan as being the ‘master mind’ behind the operation as Gahagan led the coordination of the depot’s teams. The team of highly skilled electronic integrated systems mechanics, augmented by other depot personnel, basically set up an entire Depot operation. This team had ‘hands-on’ artisans in the field who applied the modifications, validated hardware, ensured test requirements were met and, ultimately, provided the Soldier a fully mission-capable air defense system.

Four continuous rotations of 10-14 depot personnel began the modernization effort late in January. The depot’s fielding teams performed the modifications in an airplane hangar outside the continental United States. This was the only facility available that had the size and work space to accommodate four shelters and two radars in addition to having room to spread out the modification kits and the tooling necessary to meet this large and combined upgrade effort. Twelve-hour workdays were many times necessary to maintain schedule.

Gahagan attributes the depot’s success primarily to the determination and drive of the employees.

“Give them a mission and move out of their way,” Gahagan said.

Other factors he credits with the success are: being able to apply the C3+ modifications on a school radar at the Depot’s test site prior to traveling OCONUS; assembling a diversely skilled team for the first modification because of the many unknowns; being able to alternate the fielding teams to maintain the integrity of the teams; and providing 24-7 support to the teams by keeping the same skillsets back at the depot in constant contact with the deployed technicians.

For the shelter modifications, the team needed to remove cables and chassis from the shelters and replace with new, modernized command and control stations. Legacy-style cathode ray tube man stations were replaced with flat screens and touch controls. New encryption communication devices (data or voice) were also installed. The radar modifications consisted of removing large amounts of obsolete hardware, modifying brackets within the shelter, as well as installing newer, modernized digital technology. This also included routing new cabling throughout the radar. All end items required extensive integration testing with mobile test equipment to validate hardware operability.

Rotating teams ensured continuity of skill sets and familiarity. DIO overlapped rotations of personnel to enable efficient hand-off procedures and a thorough understanding of where the incoming team needed to focus their efforts.

The successful execution of this large-scale, complex effort demonstrated the skill, flexibility, adaptability and drive of the Depot employees. According to team leader, Matt Nicklas, an employee of the depot for seven years, the teams moved, fueled, and placed equipment as needed to keep the pace. One of the biggest challenges for all of the teams was waiting for inbound repair parts.

“We couldn’t wait seven to 10 days for parts to arrive due to the mission’s location, so we borrowed parts from existing pieces of equipment in order to meet the rigid schedule,” said Nicklas. When the requested parts arrived, the team replaced the items back on the original equipment.

This vital air missile defense modernization strategy required bringing the Patriot system to Configuration 3+ which includes the latest system software and hardware upgrades. Maj. Gen. Doug Gabram, AMCOM Commander, approved an Urgent Materiel Release for the Pacific Command Theater of operations in June 2016. The UMR stated that the Configuration 3+ updates were critical to the Patriot weapon system. This was the first time that the application of this many hardware upgrades were applied overseas, that, by all accounts, was an extremely difficult effort requiring extraordinary coordination of all elements involved.

This was a massive logistical undertaking because of the sheer volume of items needed. LTPO arranged for transporting the Raytheon-developed special test equipment, kits, parts, tools, adhesives and miscellaneous pieces needed to accomplish the mission. For example, the modifications required 13, 40-foot vans, 3 C5 Special Assigned Airlift Mission flights, and dozens of government freight shipments to get everything to the overseas site.

“This mission was a big deal and directly supports the Chief of Staff of the Army Gen. Milley’s first priority, operational readiness,” Col. Stephen Ledbetter, Depot’s Commander said. “When it was all said and done, it was unanimous that Letterkenny did an awesome job all while maintaining the ‘fight-tonight’ readiness mission requirements of the 35th ADA. It doesn’t get any better than that.”

• Date Taken: 10.06.2017
• Date Posted: 10.12.2017 17:57
• Story ID: 251512
• Location: LETTERKENNY ARMY DEPOT, PA, US
• Hometown: LETTERKENNY ARMY DEPOT, PA, US