Fleet Readiness Center East (FRCE) hosted a Sept. 24 visit from Brig. Gen. Andrew M. Niebel, commanding general of Marine Corps Installations East-Marine Corps Base Camp Lejeune in order to familiarize the commander with operations at the depot.

Fleet Readiness Center East (FRCE) artisans recently completed work on the first UH-1N “Huey” helicopter to undergo service at the depot’s facility in Kinston’s North Carolina Global TransPark.

Fleet Readiness Center East (FRCE) opened a new chapter of service Aug. 11 as it completed work on the first of the fleet MV-22B Osprey aircraft flown by the Marine Corps squadron tasked with helicopter transport of the president of the United States.

Every industry has certifications that indicate standards of excellence achieved through the use of best practices. At a restaurant, diners may look to health inspection scores as a signal of safety; when it comes to vehicle repairs, consumers might seek a mechanic that is Automotive Service Excellence (ASE) certified.

Military airplanes and helicopters are made up of thousands of parts, and when those aircraft come in for maintenance or repair, somebody has to account for each and every one of those parts throughout the entire rework process. At Fleet Readiness Center East (FRCE), that organizing challenge is being managed using a new software application called WISK, short for Work-in-Process Inventory, Storage and Kitting.

An eight-person Fleet Readiness Center East (FRCE) team recently received high praise for deploying to Naval Air Station (NAS) Meridian, Mississippi, to support Rolls-Royce in production of the F405 engine used in the T-45A/C Goshawk jet trainer.

Fleet Readiness Center East (FRCE) marked a milestone in its support of the F-35 Lightning II program when the depot inducted its 100th F-35 for modifications June 11.

The induction signifies more than just a number – it represents eight years of efforts to stand up and grow the F-35 modification line at the depot, said FRCE Commanding Officer Col. Thomas A. Atkinson.

Advanced military aircraft rely on fiber optics to transmit massive amounts of data to avionics and flight control systems in real time. Like most other parts of an aircraft, the connectors at the ends of these critical cables and the ends of the fiber strands inside the connectors can get dirty with use in harsh environments, which can degrade their efficiency. 

When it comes to military aircraft maintenance, corrosion is a fact of life. The Navy and Marine Corps aircraft maintained at Fleet Readiness Center East (FRCE) operate in some of the planet’s most extreme conditions and demanding scenarios, resulting in the need for costly and time-consuming corrosion inspection and repair processes.

Engines on the H-53 helicopter and the F/A-18 attack aircraft work in some harsh environments, as hundreds of parts spin, torque and rotate to power these massive aircraft. This constant wear and tear means these metal parts often have to be replaced when the engines are at Fleet Readiness Center East for maintenance and repair. These worn-out blades, nozzles and vanes have to be accounted for and processed before they can be scrapped, which can be a cumbersome, costly process.