New Program Saves Quarter Million This Fiscal Year Published March 9, 2011 By Chief Master Sgt. Victor Krieger 173 Fighter Wing, Component Repair Flight Chief KLAMATH FALLS, Ore. -- The Air Force Repair Enhancement Program (AFREP) was initially started in the summer of 2010 and became fully implemented at the beginning of this year. Last year, with only a partial program in place, the wing was able to generate about $80,000 in cost benefit for the base. This fiscal year, from October to the present, we have generated approximately $250,000 for the base. The success of the program is due largely to the efforts of several key players. The wing AFREP manager, Master Sgt. Christopher Conway, coordinates all items for induction into the AFREP repair process. The supply customer support representatives, Master Sgt. Fred Tidball and Tech. Sgt. Rhonda Reinhardt, accomplish all supply work on assets, from ensuring parts are correctly coded for repair to actually routing the part for local or contract services repair. The rubber meets the road in the maintenance shops who do the actual repairs--Avionics Intermediate Shop (AIS), Fuels Systems, Electrics & Environmental (E&E), Structural Repair, Hydraulics and Propulsion. These folks are the key to the success of this entire program. Some of the AFREP items currently being repaired either at the local level or through depot-approved contractors are: engine flame holders, aircraft hydraulic tubing, aircraft canopy actuators, aircraft fuel probes, cockpit stick grips, 8mm video tape recorders, data transfer modules, aircraft test equipment cables and circuit cards. We hope to include aircraft fuel cells in the near future. AFREP helps units at the local level increase efficiency by minimizing cannibalization, moving parts from one aircraft to another, and Mission Impaired Capability/Awaiting Parts (MICAPs). The overall goal of the program is to enhance mission capability. The program optimizes repair capability at the base level by utilizing commercial sources of repair to complement existing repair capabilities. This is done by addressing repairs to certain classes of assets that were considered throw-away parts. Through AFREP, the 173rd Fighter Wing repairs assets that in the past have been either thrown away or turned in through supply for disposal. The program reduces aircraft down-time and also generates a financial cost benefit to the base which allows the base to expend AFREP-generated funds on any need deemed essential to operation of the base or its personnel.