Air Force, HII pen $209 million deal to support fighter and bomber sustainment

The Air Force's weapon systems and subsystems will now go through HII-run depots for some repair or maintenance work, according to an announcement the company issued today.

The shipbuilding giant’s mission technologies unit has been awarded a $209 million contract by the Air Force to “perform research and analysis that will support the USAF’s weapons systems development, sustainment and long-term strategy,” HII said in the notice.

The company will mainly support the service’s fighters and advanced aircraft and bomber directorates on maintenance work in an effort to swiftly increase aircraft readiness or mission-capable availability, at a time when the service expects up to 514 aircraft to be grounded at any point due to lack of spare parts.

“HII is excited to build upon our Air Force Life Cycle Management Center work, helping to optimize the customer’s approach to developing, fielding and maintaining fighter and bomber platforms and subsystems to maximize their readiness and lethality,” Grant Hagen, HII’s president of mission technologies’ cyber, electronic warfare and space business unit, said in a statement.

Work supported by the new five-year task order will be performed out of Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, OH, where AFLCMC is housed, as well as at Robins AFB, GA, Hill AFB, UT and Tinker AFB, OK -- the locations of the service’s three sprawling Air Logistics Complexes.

The Air Force in September will release a three-phased plan to overhaul its aging depots to be better equipped to meet the demands of a potential fight with a near-peer adversary, formally dubbed "The Air Force Depot Infrastructure Optimization Plan," Inside Defense previously reported.