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Shanahan Discusses F/A-18s, Naval Aviation Readiness at Oceana

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Deputy Defense Secretary Patrick M. Shanahan and Navy Secretary Richard V. Spencer toured the Fleet Readiness Center Mid-Atlantic facilities here July 26 to discuss enhancing naval aviation readiness.

Navy Petty Officer 2nd Class Karil Courtenay, an aviation structural mechanic assigned to Fleet Readiness Center Mid-Atlantic Oceana in Virginia Beach, Va., discusses a hydraulic system part with Deputy Defense Secretary Patrick M. Shanahan, right, and Navy Secretary Richard V. Spencer, during their visit to the center, July 25, 2018. DoD photo by Lisa Ferdinando
Navy Petty Officer 2nd Class Karil Courtenay, an aviation structural mechanic assigned to Fleet Readiness Center Mid-Atlantic Oceana in Virginia Beach, Va., discusses a hydraulic system part with Deputy Defense Secretary Patrick M. Shanahan, right, and Navy Secretary Richard V. Spencer, during their visit to the center, July 26, 2018. DoD photo by Lisa Ferdinando
Navy Petty Officer 2nd Class Karil Courtenay, an aviation structural mechanic assigned to Fleet Readiness Center Mid-Atlantic Oceana in Virginia Beach, Va., discusses a hydraulic system part with Deputy Defense Secretary Patrick M. Shanahan, right, and Navy Secretary Richard V. Spencer, during their visit to the center, July 25, 2018. DoD photo by Lisa Ferdinando
Shanahan
Navy Petty Officer 2nd Class Karil Courtenay, an aviation structural mechanic assigned to Fleet Readiness Center Mid-Atlantic Oceana in Virginia Beach, Va., discusses a hydraulic system part with Deputy Defense Secretary Patrick M. Shanahan, right, and Navy Secretary Richard V. Spencer, during their visit to the center, July 26, 2018. DoD photo by Lisa Ferdinando
Photo By: DoD
VIRIN: 180725-D-BN624-0182

"What we were trying to get out is what are the major process changes we would make to get a step function improvement in performance," Shanahan said in an interview after the tour and a closed-door session with the leadership team.

The deputy secretary said he wants to explore ways of taking a departmental approach to some of the issues and challenges in the maintenance and repair of F/A-18 Super Hornet jet aircraft.

"For the people who are responsible for those facilities, we wanted to get a sense of what are those big constraints where either you need help or a decision,” he said.

Seeking Higher Mission Capacity

The most important part of his visit, he said, was the discussion with the leadership team on ways to drive a higher mission capability. This, he pointed out, supports the National Defense Strategies priorities of creating a more lethal force.

Topics included modernization, service life extensions, managing the supply chain, and working on the DoD-level to better engage the supplier, he said.

"We also talked quite a bit about how to set the priorities for improving the reliability of the airplane,” he said. “We talked quite a bit about how do we want to get the right pool of spare parts [and] how should we rotate spare parts to different depots and different bases where the F/A-18s are based."

Sailors and civilians assigned to Fleet Readiness Center Mid-Atlantic perform maintenance and repair, inspections and structural and electronic system modifications on numerous carrier-based aircraft, as well as aircraft launch and recovery equipment on aviation-capable ships.

(Follow Lisa Ferdinando on Twitter: @FerdinandoDoD)

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