WEBVTT

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- Captain Matthew Edwards.

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FRC West Pac Commanding Officer.

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Today, we're celebrating the first

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F-18 Depot Plan Maintenance Interval induction

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into this hangar in Iwakuni.

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Our F-18 PMI Maintenance Line has been in Atsugi

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for the last 30 years.

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So today we're celebrating the F-18 PMI induction.

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Many people were involved in this effort

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including Fleet Readiness Center West Pac personnel,

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both from our headquarters in Atsugi

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as well as detachment in Iwakuni.

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We also have Fleet Logistics Center in Yokosuka,

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provided contracting support.

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We have Defense Contract Management Agency Japan

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who also provides contractor oversight as well,

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so it's been a significant effort

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across numerous commands to make this happen.

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We are celebrating the transition

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of the F-18 line from Atsugi to Iwakuni.

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We're having a ribbon-cutting ceremony as well

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because this is the first aircraft inducted

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into our new facility here in Iwakuni

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to support the Navy and Marine Corps Forces here in Iwakuni.

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- [Sara] What benefits does the Fleet bring

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to the Air Station?

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- FRC West Pac, we bring Aircraft Depot Maintenance Repair.

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We do both scheduled depot maintenance

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which is the F-18 PMI line here.

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We also do aircraft unscheduled maintenance

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for all Navy and Marine Corps aircraft.

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We have a large contingents of depot artisans here,

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machinists, aircraft mechanics,

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PNE's, I'm missin' one.

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Machinists, aircraft mechanics, PNE's.

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- [Interviewer] Sheet metalists.

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- Sheet metal, yeah.

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But there's three.

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Machinists, sheet metal, yeah, and ...

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- [Interviewer] And air mechanics.

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- Air mechanics, yeah, I'm sorry, okay.

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So we have a large contingent of,

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we call in-service repair

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which is unscheduled depot maintenance artisans here.

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We have sheet metal mechanics.

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We have aircraft mechanics,

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and we have machinists.

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We also have planners, estimators, and QA personnel

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that deploy around the world

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on all the deployed aircraft carriers to repair aircraft.

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What we provide is depot maintenance across the fleet.

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- [Interviewer] How's does that impact the Air Station?

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- The impact to the Air Station is we provide readiness.

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Any time the aircraft is damaged,

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it requires repair that's beyond the capability

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of the organizational level,

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we send our depot artisans in to repair the aircraft

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to get it back onto the flight line as rapidly as possible.

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- [Interviewer] Can you describe

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how it would decrease maintenance costs by having it here

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instead of transferring it

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to another location for maintenance?

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- Yes, so, we stood up the F-18 PMI line here in Japan

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over 30 years ago, and it was based up in Atsugi

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at Nippi Corporation, Yamato facility

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which is adjacent to Atsugi.

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We've stood it up here because the cost to fly the aircraft

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back to the States is significant,

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to fly it back to the United States for depot maintenance.

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So we've stood up the capability here in theater

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to save on those significant costs.

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That's it, I guess.

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- [Interviewer] Anything else?

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- Okay, that's it.

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- [Interviewer] Is there anything else

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that you'd like to add sir?

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- It's been a couple years in the planning

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and tremendous amount of effort

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across the teams to make this happen.

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FRC West Pac,

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we have this large facility here,

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and in advance of the Airwing Five move coming down here

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from Atsugi as well as the Marines on the ground here.

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Hope you chop a lot out.

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(laughs)