A/TQ covers - Airlift/Tanker Association

Association Round-Up
Chapter News?
Send to Collin Bakse at atq@atalink.org or
Bud Traynor at ata@atalink.org.
Huyser Chapter
The bust of the 21st inductee into the Airlift/Tanker
Hall of Fame, General Thomas
M. Ryan, Jr., was installed along the A/TA
Walk of Fame at Scott Air Force Base, Illinois,
on the morning of 11 September 2012.
General Ryan and his wife, Penny, were on
hand for the short, informal ceremony, as
were General Raymond E. Johns, Jr, commander
Air Mobility
Command; former
AMC commander and
chairman Airlift/Tanker
Association, General
Walt Kross, USAF ret; A/
TA President, CMSGT
Mike Reynolds, USAF
ret; and retired mobility
senior statesmen, General
Arthur Lichte, General
Duncan McNabb
and fellow A/TA Hall of
Famer, General Duane
Cassidy, among others.
Mr. Greg Colvin, Huyser
Chapter Vice President, represented the
chapter. Captain Taylor Todd served as Master
of Ceremonies.
Following introductions by Capt Todd,
General Kross, addressing the small crowd
gathered on the beautiful fall morning, remembered
the victims of 9/11 2001, the re-
General Tom Ryan and his wife Penny,
with the general’s bust following a A/TA
Hall of Fame dedication ceremony at Scott
Air Force Base Ill. Sept. 11, 2012. (AT/Q
Photo, Collin Bakse).
cent passing of A/TA Founding Member and
Hall of Famer, General William Moore, Jr.,
and provided a brief overview of previous
Hall of Fame Inductees. General Kross ended
his remarks by commenting on how General
Ryan’s leadership style “focused on mission
substance and the men and women who
performed it.” Capt Todd then introduced
General Johns.
General Johns
fondly recounted an
event early in his Air
Force career when
he watched General
Ryan perform the first
C-141 aerial refueling,
followed by a litany
of General Ryan’s
accomplishments.
He too, said that as a
leader General Ryan
went beyond being
a visionary to focus
on airmen. He closed
his remarks by congratulating General Ryan
on the momentous occasion.
Following General Johns remarks, Capt
Todd read the inscription inscribed on the
plaque mounted on the column beneath the
bust: “General Thomas M. Ryan, Jr. – General
Tom Ryan was a leader known for his
unwavering commitment to the mobility
mission as Vice Commander (1977-81) and
the Commander (1983-85) of the Military
Airlift Command. General Ryan presided
over mobility operations in support of significant
national and international crises
and humanitarian relief efforts to include
Operations Eagle Claw (Iranian Hostage
Rescue) and Operation Urgent Fury (rescue
of American medical students in Grenada).
Geneal Ryan drove the development of the
first U.S. Air Force Airlift Master Plan, a 20-
Year mobility roadmap that resulted in significant
air mobility modernization. He was
a proponent of increasing the role of the Air
Force Reserve and the Air National Guard
and worked to transfer C-5 and C-141 aircraft
to Air Reserve Units. A selfless leader
and mentor, his leadership and advocacy
helped bring about mobility cultural changes
that we take for granted today.”
Following the reading of the inscription,
General Ryan, his wife Penny, General Kross
and Chief Reynolds participated in unvieling
the bust. Following the unvieling, General
Ryan made a few remarks in which he
humbly accepted the honor of being represented
in the company of such reknowned
air mobility airmen – representatives of the
rich history and limitless future of America’s
air mobility forces.
Industry Partner GE Annouces Improved KC-135R Engines On Track for Early Delivery
A new model program improving the Air
Force and Navy’s F108 engines (a.k.a., CFM56-
2) was fully flight tested and certified by the
FAA and its European counterpart almost two
months early. As a result, GE, one of the parent
companies of CFM– a joint GE and Snecma
(Safran group) company – responded to an Air
Force request to overhaul 15 KC-135 engines
with an offer to provide the Air force a new improved
configuration commonly called CPUP
(CFM Performance Upgrade Program). The offer
will allow the Air Force to begin to field the
first improved engines nearly one year ahead
of earlier plans—a jump start to the overall upgrade
program.
The new engine configuration will provide
for a much longer time on wing and improved
fuel consumption. The CPUP capitalizes on
specific technologies adopted from newer versions
of the commercial CFM56 engine family
to bring improvements to the older -2 version
used in the KC-135R. The changes include new
high-pressure compressor airfoils designed
using three-dimensional aerodynamic tech-
niques to improve engine airflow, along with
a new high-pressure turbine hardware that
incorporates the latest materials technology to
extend life.
With more than 24,000 CFM56s on the
commercial market, CFM was able to capitalize
on its experience to bring several advantages
to the CPUP program benefiting the Air
Force. For example, CFM packaged the right
combination of newer existing parts to drive
improved performance without increasing the
overall parts cost. In fact, it will cost less to buy
a kit of the new, improved parts than a new
kit of the parts the upgrade will replace. Also,
the new upgraded engine is transparent to the
flight and maintenance crews; there are no
field-level TCTOs that drive training requirements
at the base level. Upgraded engines can
even be intermixed on the wing with the older
configuration. This allows the upgrade to take
place based on normal attrition—a key factor
in keeping installation costs to a minimum.
The most significant factor contributing to
the program’s success, however, might be how
it was developed. Without a future commercial
customer for the upgrade, nor a U.S. military
contract, CFM self-funded the development
and certification programs. Based on CFMs
experience and confidence in the technology
CFM invested millions to develop the upgrade.
CFM then teamed with the Navy and Air Force
for flight test, with the Navy providing the
engine and aircraft for test and the Air Force
sharing in actual test flight costs. The Navy, Air
Force, and CFM efforts brought about a flight
test program that was executed flawlessly, with
the new engine configuration performing just
as predicted. The engine’s performance during
flight test allowed the Navy to keep the test engine
on the aircraft permanently.
In all, the unique approach to the program
by CFM kept the implementation costs and
risk among the lowest ever seen for a military
aircraft engine upgrade program. CPUP will
provide confidence that the KC-135 engines
will continue to operate at peak performance
and provide the warfighter a valuable asset
throughout is long service life.
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A/TQ • Airlift/Tanker Quarterly • Fall 2012