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Show TIMES June 1. 2006 B-2 commander visits Hill BYBjLlORNDORFF 309th Maintenance Wing Col. John Griggs, who has helped modernize and sustain the B-2 Spirit bomber, met with the 309th Aircraft Maintenance Group employees recently on his way to a new assignment. The colonel has been involved with the B-2 since 2002 and commands the B-2 Systems Group, part of the Long Range Strike Systems Wing, Air Force Materiel Command, Wright-Patterson AFB, Ohio. He left April 21 for a missile assignment at EglinAFB, Fla. "The work at Hill has a tremendous effect on maintainability and sustainability of the B-2," he said. In particular he noted the work on the nozzle bay doors was the number one maintenance driver. "In the past, we had failures every 100 flight hours that took 10 days to repair. Now the system has more than 2,000 flight hours with no failures. Phenomenal! The folks at Hill are attacking the problems that are keeping the airplane out of the air. They're doing a fantastic job." Colonel Griggs said the B-2 workload continues to grow as are Hill's composite repair facilities, and says the work at Hill benefits the program. He credits Hill employees with bringing this capability on board and making the base the place for composite repair capability. "Auxiliary Power Units are worked through Hill AFB, and a contract went out on that with Honeywell, once again helping us out," he said. "In addition to the nozzle bay doors, there's the hot trailing edge, low observable materials, landing gears and . --. COL. JOHN GRIGGS the flight control surfaces -- all this work is done here. When the aircraft goes in for Program Depot Maintenance at Palmdale, Calif., the flight control surfaces are taken off and shipped up here for rework." The B-2 is using a new Advanced Topcoat System as its outer coating. The Hill employees, along with those at Whiteman AFB, Mo., where the aircraft is based, were instrumental in developing the process to put on the material. "It has several different layers, each one having different characteristics," Colonel Griggs said. "Learning how to put it on in an efficient way is very critical. The folks at Hill have been the key to the success of this program." Colonel Griggs says the B2 program is active with no slowdown in sight, and estimates the aircraft will be in use beyond 2055. "The future of the B-2 is extremely bright," he said. "If you look at what is happening with the F-117 and the talk of retiring it, and the potential diminishing number of B-52s out there - those roles have to be picked up. The B-2 is a very critical instrument in being able to pick up those roles. We have modification programs out there with regards to communications and radar modernization to transition the aircraft ~ as far as avionics - for the future. It will then have the capability for easier upgrade to the next generation of radar and hook up to the GIG when it gets implemented. "We put together the longrange capabilities plan every other year. We look at not just attacking the issues that are out there from a maintenance standpoint, but also from a capabilities perspective and enhancing the capabilities for the future fight. We have to continue to evolve." Colonel Griggs started his military career in the Navy in 1969 as an anti-submarine warfare operator, and entered the Air Force in 1980 through Officer Training School. At Eglin, he will be in charge of the Joint Air-to-Surface Standoff Missile Program. "In my time, I've seen the Stealth technology come on board and now we're doing generational improvements to it. The things that are done here at Hill are critical to those generational improvements," he said. "The B-2 carries the JASSM, so I still get to stay close to the B-2 and head up a weapon system. I've done weapons before, and going back and doing weapons again is a nice touch. I like to be on the planes that drop the things that go 'boom' and I like to work on the programs that go 'boom.'" During his visit, Colonel Griggs honored 309 AMXG advanced composites employees for their work on the B-2 composites, including modification of 44 nozzle bay doors in one year; eliminating problems with the coatings on these doors; engineering the standards required to support the project; producing a process for nozzle bay doors including operations for decoating, grit blast and low observable coatings; developing B-2 processes; and performing mechanical tests on B-2 materials. \ & CoCCecta&Ces ' • Knlck-Knacks • Gifts for All Occasions - Custom Floral Arrangements •Antiques cAj I*- , " t • Home Decora • „v v ^ i^Dirriing houses into honies" Vat 16 N. Main Street, Layton, UT 84041 •*. -,-;•• (801)444-7276 Summertime fun, our treat. DANA ORTHODONTICS is the fastest growing orthodontic provider in Utah. 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