The Navy’s MH-60S Seahawk multi-mission helicopter is ready for a communications upgrade, and engineers with the H-60 Fleet Support Team at Naval Air Systems Command’s In-Service Support Center at Fleet Readiness Center East have developed an innovative solution to support that effort.

When local agencies saw a need for protective face shields, Fleet Readiness Center East stepped up to answer the call. A small team of FRCE engineers recently 3D printed, assembled and delivered more than 700 face shields to area medical professionals, first responders and educators. This brings the total number of face shields manufactured by FRCE and distributed in the community to more than 1,250 since the initiative began in mid-April.

The aircraft maintenance professionals at Fleet Readiness Center East are always ready for a challenge. But when the U.S. Air Force asked the facility to bring an H-1 Huey up to current configurations after it spent more than 10 years sitting in storage, the artisans faced a bigger challenge than they expected.

Fleet Readiness Center East recently welcomed its second class of apprentices to work at the aircraft repair facility. Twenty new employees reported for duty August 10, as part of a nationally standardized pipeline through which FRCE can hire and train a workforce of highly skilled aircraft mechanics.

The Naval Air Systems Command National Apprenticeship Program is designed to offer qualified applicants the opportunity to work full-time as federal employees, receiving pay and benefits, as they pursue a combination of education and on-the-job training.

At the end of fiscal year 2018, the T64 engine program was in trouble. Across the fleet, supply constraints contributed to ever-increasing turnaround times for engines inducted for overhaul or repair. At Fleet Readiness Center East, facilities constraints compounded the issue. The Navy’s H-53 Heavy Lift Helicopters program office, also known as PMA-261, was facing a T64 inventory that fell more than 90 engines short of its engine readiness goal.

Each day, aviation maintenance professionals at Fleet Readiness Center East’s clean and paint shops clean, treat, coat and route hundreds of parts that make up the gearboxes, rotor heads, engines and other dynamic components that spin on the aircraft FRCE maintains, repairs and overhauls.

These shops process nearly 6,500 parts each month and are key in keeping the dynamic components workload flowing through the aircraft maintenance facility.  Without their hard work, other shops dependent on these parts wouldn’t be able to stay on schedule.

During a visit to Fleet Readiness Center East Friday, July 17, Rep. Greg Murphy received updates on the future of naval aviation, the current status of operations and the economic opportunities FRCE brings to Eastern North Carolina.

Murphy, who represents North Carolina’s 3^rd Congressional District in the U.S. House of Representatives, toured the facility with FRCE Commanding Officer Capt. Mark E. Nieto. The itinerary focused on the F-35 Lightning II and future plans for F-35 maintenance and capabilities at FRCE.

In early May, the Marines in Medium Tiltrotor Squadron 365 (Reinforced) were facing a problem. While deployed to the Gulf of Arabia in support of the 26th Marine Expeditionary Unit, one of the squadron’s CH-53E Super Stallions experienced a broken gear in the main rotor gearbox. The damage rendered the aircraft inoperable and awaiting repair aboard the amphibious assault ship USS Bataan (LHD 5).

If a V-22 squadron needs a titanium hydraulic or fuel line tube for one of its aircraft, Fleet Readiness Center East is the source to call. That’s because FRCE is the only U.S. military aircraft repair facility to have perfected the orbital welding process required to produce these critical components.

A new public-private partnership with Lockheed Martin gives Fleet Readiness Center East another means of supporting naval aviation. The depot recently declared capability on 14 F-35 components, meaning FRCE is now a verified source of repair and testing for these items.