{"id":10196,"date":"2018-07-31T17:21:05","date_gmt":"2018-07-31T17:21:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/c4isrnet\/uncategorized\/2018\/07\/31\/air-force-begins-in-house-jstars-maintenance-amid-northrop-grummans-shortfalls\/"},"modified":"2026-08-07T20:18:09","modified_gmt":"2026-08-07T20:18:09","slug":"air-force-begins-in-house-jstars-maintenance-amid-northrop-grummans-shortfalls","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/c4isrnet\/intel-geoint\/isr\/2018\/07\/31\/air-force-begins-in-house-jstars-maintenance-amid-northrop-grummans-shortfalls\/","title":{"rendered":"Air Force begins in-house JSTARS maintenance amid Northrop Grumman\u2019s shortfalls"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

The Air Force began conducting its own depot maintenance for JSTARS <\/a>July 17 at Robins Air Force Base, Georgia, in an effort to field the Air Force\u2019s primary ground surveillance and battle management aircraft quicker, despite contractor shortfalls.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Maintenance for the E-8C Joint Surveillance Target Attack Radar System<\/a> aircraft was previously done exclusively by Northrop Grumman<\/a> at a facility in Louisiana, but the service has said the maintenance was too slow. Now, Warner Robins Air Logistics Complex<\/a> will supplement the contractors to speed up the process.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cHistorically, the contractor has averaged about 400 days per aircraft,\u201d Air Force Material Command spokesman Derek Kaufman told Air Force Times.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe driver has been to increase the number of aircraft available for operations and training. The Air Force intends to fly JSTARS into the mid-to-late 2020s, while the follow-on Advanced Battle Management System<\/a> [ABMS] is developed,” Kaufman said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Air Force has not released exactly what the ABMS entails, but it will fuse information from satellites, drones, ground sensors and manned ISR aircraft. Because Robbins AFB is also playing host to the initial elements of the ABMS program, Kaufman said the base will continue to play a role in the command and control mission.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In the meantime, maintenance delays for existing JSTARS must be streamlined, according to the press release<\/a> announcing the push.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve been focusing intensely for a couple of years on improving contractor-led depot performance, but aircraft are still remaining in depot too long,\u201d said Steven Wert, the Air Force\u2019s program executive officer for battle management, who oversees these efforts. \u201cWe have to find ways to increase throughput and overall depot capacity, and we believe this option is well worth exploring.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\t