It started in 1991, thirty-two years ago, when a Navy F/A-18 aircraft that had only flown a small percentage of its original allotment of flight hours experienced a hard landing at the then Naval Air Station Miramar in San Diego. The landing caused damage to the aircraft’s fuselage section - the center barrel - where the wings and main landing gear attach. The damage meant the aircraft was no longer able to fly so the Navy was faced with scrapping a fairly new jetfighter and losing the remaining value left in the aircraft.
A team of Fleet Readiness Center Southwest (FRCSW) engineers and artisans wanted to retain this value and approached the leadership with an idea on how to save the aircraft.
Though the idea had some merit, the technical aspects of dissecting a jetfighter in the late 80s and early 90s was unheard of in the aviation maintenance community and the idea, which included splitting the aircraft into three sections, was untested.
That did not stop the FRCSW team who took on the challenge in an attempt to do what had never been done.
After much deliberation, it was determined that replacing the center barrel was the most viable option. Over the ensuing 18 months, the team at FRCSW designed and created the fixtures necessary to complete this type of work on F/A-18 aircraft and they did so while only utilizing 10% of the anticipated budget for the project. That was the inauguration of the FRCSW Center Barrel Replacement (CBR) program.
Over the ensuing years, the effort matured and modifications to the program itself such as replacement of the forward and aft dorsal decks, and the forward, aft, and keel longerons (structural beams) helped to address the fatigue life expectancy (FLE) of the legacy Hornets.
These changes to the CBR program were aimed at enhancing the performance and longevity of the aircraft. The new capability morphed into the Center Barrel Replacement Plus (CBR+) program which played a key role in extending the initial 6,000 flight-hour service life of the aging legacy (A-D model) aircraft.
The CBR+ program was very successful, so much so that in 2006, the Navy decided to leverage the knowledge held at the command in an effort to extend the life of these jets further. NAVAIR and FRCSW created the High Flight Hour (HFH) program, which included an array of airframe inspections to ensure operational safety of an aircraft to 8,000 flight hours. The HFH program typically included procedures in conjunction with routine Planned Maintenance Interval-One Cycle (PMI-1). The PMI-1 cycle analyzed the scope of repairs or replacement of the aircraft’s major components and other vital parts and helped to identify ways to extend the life of the aircraft.
Three years afterward, the Service Life Extension Program (SLEP) was introduced which combined the CBR+ program with the HFH inspections and, along with a SLEP program revision in 2011, allowed FRCSW to extend the life of these aircraft up to 10,000 flight hours on some jets.
“The Navy’s organic approach to the problem paved the way and was instrumental in developing a solution to extend the life of the legacy aircraft,” said David Kelly, Maintenance, Repair and Overhaul Production Director.
During the years FRCSW was working to extend the life of these aircraft, the U.S. military was actively engaged with the Enduring Freedom and Iraqi Freedom wars. Due to the operating tempo necessary during wartime, the aircraft were all utilized to the full extent of their normal wear and tear. Thus the CBR+ and SLEP programs became valuable instruments in keeping these aircraft airworthy and allowing the command to help “bridge the gap” during the transition from legacy aircraft to Super Hornets and eventually the F-35.
“Not only did we extend the life of the aircraft, but we also have been true to our commitment in supporting the mission.” said Kelly.
The CBR+ program represents a span of more than 30 years of continuous significant life extension efforts at FRCSW and the command will soon bid farewell to one of the notable breakthroughs in the history of naval aviation maintenance.
“When the last F/A-18 legacy Hornet fighter is completed, a total of 161 center barrels will have been done over the entire course of the CBR+ program,” FRCSW F/A-18 Program Manager, Ehren Terbeek said. “All those aircraft have gone through Building 378 which is the birthplace of the CBR+ program.”
The beginning does not seem too long ago for Critical Structures Logistician Robert Brinkmeier. He recounted the first few days when they encountered the almost brand-new jetfighter plane that had the mishap and spawned the birth of CBR+.
“As they say, you will never forget your first,” said Brinkmeier. “Getting the first one done was the most memorable highlight of this program for me. It’s a huge undertaking to cut the plane in three pieces and it required massive engineering skills and techniques,” he said.
The FRCSW team continues to uphold its standards of delivering quality work to the fleet by sharing its innovative ideas and talents to ensure quality workmanship in aid of the warfighters’ mission.
“Our duty is to support the warfighters and whatever the fleet needs. We’re always on a stand-by for whatever challenge that will come along our way,” said Production Line Manager James Davis.
Once the CBR+ program comes to a halt, the future will not be bleak for the engineers and artisans of FRCSW. The years of acquired expertise and pioneering efforts in the discipline of maintenance and repair have already paved the way for them to continue to provide world-class maintenance for the men and women of the US Navy and Marine Corps.
“The fact that we were able to extend the life of the aircraft has a huge impact in the field of aviation, more so, it improved and extended the warfare capabilities and warfighters’ safety,” said Brickenmeier. “Doing something complicated and challenging like this, shows that we can do it again.”
FRCSW’s CBR+ team is in the process of completing work on the last jetfighter to go through the program. This aircraft will be delivered back to the fleet in short order. Approximately four million man-hours were exhausted over the life of the CBR+ program and an estimated $2.9 billion were saved for the U.S. taxpayer
| Date Taken: | 12.21.2022 |
| Date Posted: | 12.21.2022 16:50 |
| Story ID: | 435689 |
| Location: | CORONADO, CALIFORNIA, US |
| Web Views: | 139 |
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This work, Center Barrel Plus Program: An Ongoing Legacy, by Maria Rachel Melchor, identified by DVIDS, must comply with the restrictions shown on https://www.dvidshub.net/about/copyright.
