Photo By Staff Sgt. Thomas Barley | Contractors lift the special access program facility (SAPF) with a crane Dec, 6 2018...... read more read more
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Christmas came early this year for the 509th Maintenance Group (MXG) in the form of a 58-foot-long by 14-foot-wide, 1.5 million dollar building called a special access program facility(SAPF).
This facility took nearly two years to go from conception to finished product, then had to travel nearly 900 miles from Pennsylvania, where it was built, to Whiteman Air Force Base, where it was delivered on Dec. 6, 2018.
The SAPF is part of a software system update that gives signature diagnostics system greater data processing capabilities and much quicker processing times.
“We take up to 40-50 images a week and it takes about 7 minutes to process each image. With the update and facility we will be able to process images in under 10 seconds each." said Tech Sgt. Andrew Klein, the NCIOC of RCS management assigned to the 509th MXG.
The other advantage of this facility is that it will allows airmen from the Low Observable flight to image the B-2 Spirit Stealth Bomber for any defects, making it easier to track repair and restoration metrics.
“We take radar images of the aircraft to see what its radar cross section (RCS) characteristics are, what the enemy sees, so we can tell the low observable structures guys which defects and which areas of the aircraft they need to work on,” said Klein.
It's not just the inside of the facility that makes it special.
The facility will be placed on the flight line to improve efficiency by centralizing equipment, information and airmen.
“Our office is located off the flight line and most of the work we do is on the flight line, so that's where this facility comes into play,” said Klein. “We’re centralizing all of our information and equipment in one location.”.
Consolidating all of these components into the new SAPF facility will save the 509th MXG roughly 30 man hours a week and will assure that B-2 repairs are made swiftly and more accurately than ever before.
| Date Taken: | 12.13.2018 |
| Date Posted: | 12.13.2018 10:37 |
| Story ID: | 303391 |
| Location: | WHITEMAN AIR FORCE BASE, MISSOURI, US |
| Web Views: | 100 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
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