Rotor blades for the CH-53K King Stallion helicopter that arrive for rework at Fleet Readiness Center East (FRCE) will be balanced on a new system that will save about $18 million by eliminating the need for building a new testing facility.

Helicopter rotor blades must be balanced to reduce vibration that can place stress on the helicopter’s airframe. At FRCE, this balancing process has traditionally been performed using the facility’s Helicopter Blade Balance Facility, commonly known as a whirl tower, to simulate the blade’s performance in flight.

Fleet Readiness Center East (FRCE) is gearing up to return an MV-22 Osprey to the fleet after conducting a wing-off stow ring replacement on the aircraft, the first completion of this procedure by a naval aviation depot. In another inaugural depot-level repair, FRCE artisans tackled corrosion on the aircraft’s K-fittings with the wing off, rather than the standard wing-on method; this required a novel approach to the process. 

More than 40 artisans with Fleet Readiness Center Southeast (FRCSE) were deployed to Naval Air Station (NAS) Kingsville, TX, during a year-long effort to assist Rolls-Royce in meeting the Fleet demand of 145 Ready-For-Issue (RFI) F405 engines powering the T-45 Goshawk.

It takes a lot to make a movie.

In the case of Tom Cruise’s latest film, “Top Gun: Maverick,” it took the artisans, engineers and staff of Fleet Readiness Center Southwest (FRCSW) to not only provide an authentic presentation of the aircraft used in the film, but also support for the filming itself.

FRCSW painted one of the film’s two F/A-18 Super Hornet fighter aircraft and led the installation design of the audio/visual (A/V) equipment fixed in the cockpit of an F-model Super Hornet used in the movie’s production.

Fleet Readiness Center East (FRCE) has expanded its support of next-generation naval aviation by declaring capabilities on a new round of F-35 components. These capabilities build upon the 17 F-35 components the depot previously declared capabilities on in 2020.

Ordinarily recognized for its maintenance, repair and overhaul (MRO) work on naval aircraft, Fleet Readiness Center Southwest (FRCSW) also stands out as the Navy’s sole provider of MRO services to the gas turbine LM2500 engine.

For more than 45 years, FRCSW has worked on the two types of LM2500: single and twin shank, and low power turbine.

Fleet Readiness Center Southeast's (FRCSE) Vertical Lift (VL) Production Line was recently recognized with the Naval Air Systems Command (NAVAIR) Commander's Award for Best Performing Production Line in the Quality Focus category.

Recipients were selected from among 81 exemplary teams and individuals across the enterprise. Awards spanned ten categories, which align with NAVAIR's focus areas: affordability, availability and capability speed.

Eastern North Carolina students are getting hands-on exposure to future technical careers, thanks to a small team of Fleet Readiness Center East (FRCE) engineers and educators who are bringing technology to area classrooms.

More than 80 representatives from businesses, nonprofits, academia, local government and military entities came together to explore how collaboration can accelerate solutions to the Navy and Marine Corps during the Eastern North Carolina (ENC) Tech Bridge Industry Day/Technology Scan April 27.

Held at the Havelock Tourist and Event Center, the event focused on problem-solving, networking and STEM pipeline development. The Industry Day/Technology Scan marked the first working event held by the ENC Tech Bridge, which was launched Jan. 27.

Reduced cycle times, increased efficiency and an emphasis on safety and quality earned the Fleet Readiness Center East (FRCE) V-22 team two awards presented during an April 20 ceremony.