Aircraft painter Victor Farinas appliqués an F/A-18E/F in the paint bay at NAVAIR Depot North Island. Photo courtesy of Boeing Co.

Depot selected to apply new paint coating on Super Hornet

By Bill Bartkus
NAVAIR Depot North Island

CORONADO, Calif. – NAVAIR and Boeing CO. have teamed up to test a replacement for paint on the F/A-18E/F Super Hornet. The Low Cost Appliqué Program, or LCAP, is intended to reduce hazardous materials associated with painting aircraft, reducing maintenance, and eliminating weight growth from fleet repainting.

“LCAP is a research, technical development and engineering project. The NAVAIR F/A-18 Program Office (PMA-265) is the overall project lead in partnership with Boeing CO. to put a plastic appliqué on the Super Hornet,” said Charles Soper of the Industrial Logistics Support Competency at NAVAIR Depot North Island. “This was originally performed on an F/A-18C, then on a Joint Strike Fighter aircraft, and an S-3 Viking. Now the process is being tested on the Super Hornet.”

According to Soper, LCAP is an experimental test program to decrease the lifecycle cost of the coating systems. “The Navy spends a lot of money on paint coatings for aircraft, including applications and continuous maintenance,” said Soper. He said that the goal of LCAP is to reduce cost while making the aircraft more maintainable.

Naval Air Warfare Center (Aircraft Division) initiated the program and asked to use the Depot plant and its engineers and artisans to perform the job. Soper said that the Depot agreed to the project in July 2002.

“The Business Office (now the Industrial Logistics Support Competency) was tasked with coordinating the project,” said Soper, who was named the project coordinator. “We inducted the first Super Hornet at the Depot Test Line on May 5 where artisans weighed and de-fueled the aircraft. We also performed induction runs with the squadron,” he said. “Then the aircraft went to the Paint Shop where artisans stripped and sanded it.” The aircraft belongs to VX-23 Naval Strike Aircraft Test Squadron in Patuxent River, Md.
Depot and Boeing Co. engineers, and artisans and painters from Boeing Seattle and Boeing St. Louis worked alongside Depot artisans in the Paint Shop to apply the material. “The aircraft recently flew and has started its two-year test program,” Soper said.

“It has been a very successful project,” he mentioned. “It took approximately two weeks to appliqué to the aircraft, and return it to the Test Line.”

Six Depot artisans and six from Boeing worked in teams of two. “They also reapplied markings on the aircraft,” Soper said.

The lead supervisors included Tom Sapien in the Paint Complex, and Terry Timm at the Test Line.
“The process was painstaking,” Soper said. “Artisans had to cut around fasteners in order to hand apply the material in sheets. They had to smooth it out as they went along so that there weren’t any voids or bubbles.”

Soper said that Larry Lausin and Diana Peter, both with Depot Support Equipment, had to procure cutting tables, cabinets, and other equipment to support the project.

Depot Engineering and the Materials Laboratory were also involved in the project.

“Boeing developed the appliqué, and NAVAIR PMA-265 provided the aircraft,” Soper said. “This was an overall team effort with the manufacturer and the user.” He said that the aircraft looks the same from afar, “but up close you can see that it’s a smooth surface. It’s not like a regular painted surface on the aircraft.”

For this portion of the project, Soper said appliqué material was applied on the upper surface and on the lower surface aft of the intake ducts. “Previously, Boeing had problems with other types of appliqués that peeled off. Boeing has done a lot of research into the adhesion qualities and the material is not expected to come off.”

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