FRCE reestablishes repair capability in support of vital carrier delivery mission

A team at Fleet Readiness Center East (FRCE) stepped up to provide auxiliary power units to the U.S. Navy’s last remaining C-2A Greyhound squadron when no other source could, supporting the continuation of the vital carrier onboard delivery mission.

When evolving fleet needs required an extension of the U.S. Navy C-2A Greyhound’s service life, it also resulted in a need for unexpected supply support, with many components for the legacy aircraft no longer available through the traditional supply chain, including the auxiliary power unit (APU).

To bridge the gap, FRCE reestablished a capability that had not been active at the depot for several years in order to provide Navy Fleet Logistics Support Squadron 40 (VRC-40) with working APUs. The APU is a small engine that is used to start the aircraft main engines and perform ground maintenance and is essential to missions conducted in austere expeditionary environments where ground support equipment can be limited or nonexistent.

“It’s an honor for FRC East to be able to take action and support the Navy’s vital carrier onboard delivery mission by providing working APUs for the C2-A Greyhound when the fleet needed them most,” said FRCE Commanding Officer Capt. Randy J. Berti. “Our team’s effort to reestablish this capability speaks to the ingenuity and drive of the depot’s workforce, and their desire to provide world-class support to the warfighter.”

According to Erik Dumas, senior engineer with the Naval Air Systems Command Gas Turbine Compressor/Pneumatics Fleet Support Team at FRCE, the supply chain was prepared to support the C-2A Greyhound with APUs through its initial planned removal from service in 2024. That changed when the aircraft’s mission was extended through September 2026; the APU was soon identified as one of the platform’s top degraders, meaning the lack of availability had the potential to significantly reduce mission capability.

“When the C-2 squadrons were surged in order to meet fleet logistics needs, it became clear that we’d need a solution for providing more APUs,” he explained. “These APUs are all 30-plus years old. An APU can last a year or it could last a month – it really just depends on the conditions in which it’s being used. In a forward-deployed environment, it lives a hard life. The request inevitably came to FRCE and the Fleet Support Team to see if it would be possible to repair or overhaul any C-2A APUs.”

Thanks to a months-long, cross-disciplinary effort that spanned several or
 

Thanks to a months-long, cross-disciplinary effort that spanned several organizations, FRCE can now test, check and replace specific components on the APUs to restore them to working condition and meet the strict standards required by naval aviation, Dumas said. While the work isn’t as extensive as the full overhaul process formerly conducted at the depot, the APUs turned out by FRCE are meeting the needs of the fleet.

In fact, Dumas noted, all the C-2A Greyhound APUs that are “on the shelf” and available to the fleet through the supply chain have been produced at FRCE in the past year, proving just how successful the team’s efforts have been.

Reaching the point of being able to return APUs to the supply chain took a good deal of research, hands-on training and determination, Dumas added. Most of the FRCE artisans who had direct knowledge and experience with this APU in the past have retired over the years.

The process started with correlating the depot’s test cells with a known working APU in order to guarantee testing produces accurate results. Once the team successfully correlated the test cell – using an APU borrowed from the USS George H. W. Bush (CVN-77) – and created a new set of test instructions to ensure accurate results using the depot’s equipment, which had been upgraded since FRCE last serviced the C-2A Greyhound APUs, it was time to start testing and checking the units available.

Dumas said the team initially worked through a supply of 40 APUs that were labeled “F” condition, which means the components are unserviceable but potentially repairable. From this batch, two were deemed ready for issue and returned to the supply chain.

Following the initial effort, the team worked to obtain authorization to replace certain external components of the unserviceable APUs in order to bring them into working condition. With permission granted, a few more APUs were brought up to standard and returned to the fleet.

Justin Rimmer, supervisor of FRCE’s Engine Driven Compressor and Gas Turbine Compressor Shop, said his team knew the Greyhound performed a no-fail mission, and that knowledge spurred them to work even harder to turn out APUs that meet the standard.

“We knew the urgency of the fleet needing these units, so we pulled artisans from other project to focus on this effort,” he said. “It was pleasing to watch how all involved put together a plan, and the result was units for the fleet. It took a lot of man hours from multiple areas to make this happen.”

Successfully reestablishing even the limited C-2A Greyhound repair capability required a huge amount of teamwork from the shop artisans, engineers, estimator and evaluators, production controllers and planners, Rimmer noted.

Dumas agreed, adding that external organizations also put forth extraordinary efforts to make the capability reestablishment possible.

“All throughout this process, we have worked with all of the stakeholders from Naval Supply Systems Command; FRC East; the E-2/C-2 Airborne Command and Control Systems Program Office; VRC-40; Defense Logistics

Agency; the USS George H.W. Bush and the USS Nimitz; and the APU’s original equipment manufacturer, Honeywell,” he said. “Everyone working together made this happen.

“But the shop really stepped up to the plate to make this happen despite the hardships they faced, and this wouldn’t have been possible without their support,” Dumas continued. “No matter what I brought to them, we fixed it or worked around it – not once was I told no.”

FRCE Components Division Director Meri Hancock said she is proud of the team in the Engine Driven Compressor and Gas Turbine Compressor Shop but isn’t surprised by their performance.

“I appreciate the shop stepping up every step of the way,” she said. “No matter what challenge we throw at them, they overcome every obstacle they come across. They’re outstanding performers who always accomplish the goal in support of the warfighter.

“The shop is known for their out-of-the-box thinking, and they’re very good at it,” Hancock continued. “This time, it was the C-2A Greyhound APU, but no matter what the mission is, they make it happen every day. They volunteer for every challenge, and they do an outstanding job.”

Rimmer agreed that while this particular APU was a high-profile component, the team comes together to get the job done day after day.

“This is not the first hurdle that we’ve cleared this year, but we strive as ‘One Team, One Fight,’” he explained. “The camaraderie in the shop from all walks of life coming together as a team is enough to make anyone proud.

“It’s an amazing feeling to know we came together as a team here at FRC East to produce these units for a fleet in need,” Rimmer continued. “It really says a lot about Eastern North Carolina and how much we do for not just our warfighters here, but around the world.”

FRCE is North Carolina's largest maintenance, repair, overhaul and technical services provider, with more than 4,000 civilian, military and contract workers. Its annual revenue exceeds $865 million. The depot provides service to the fleet while functioning as an integral part of the greater U.S. Navy; Naval Air Systems Command; and Commander, Fleet Readiness Centers.