Letterkenny Army Depot employees, Kate Williams, Strategic Management director, and Ashley Filling, Process Engineering Branch supervisor and cold spray lead integrator, made significant steps in advancing LEAD's forward repair capabilities during a recent visit to Andersen Air Force Base, Guam, July 22-25, 2024.
The team visited the military installation to identify a site for depot operations, beginning with a Pop-Up Cold Spray unit, that will accommodate Air and Missile Defense systems as well as construction and other equipment utilized by the joint services.
“We visited with the intent to deliver sustainment solutions at the point of need starting with a technology that will have the most immediate impact to the joint force,” said Williams. “This was an excellent opportunity to inform stakeholders of the pop-up cold spray application and other sustainment support efforts the depot can provide.”
Cold spray is a process using compressed gas to accelerate powder material through a supersonic nozzle resulting in consolidation through high velocity particle impact and severe plastic deformation.
Letterkenny trained technicians can apply this non-structural repair on ground equipment for both aluminum and steel. The process reduces the cost and time associated with replacements and provides a capability to stop frame corrosion that improves asset availability and warfighter’s safety. Repairs made to steel adds additional corrosion protection.
To establish the Forward Repair Activity in Guam, LEAD will purchase a “pop-up” service package. This includes equipment, a materials lab and engineering services. LEAD will station a cold spray technician in Guam and is also preparing follow on support packages to provide sustainment capabilities forward as either temporary or permanent support.
According to Filling, providing portable cold spray in Guam would allow the warfighters and assets to stay mission ready, saves over the ocean transport, arrests corrosive decay caused by environment, saves money and time, simplifies end user logistics, and provides logistics flexibility and warfighter training.
“The warfighters and civilians executing their missions in Guam have demonstrated great commitment, competency and ingenuity,” said Williams. “They execute with a clear purpose and know that they are on the operating edge of the free world.
“To support them - it is why we say we exist. Guam is growing and currently the joint forces are operating in a constrained environment that is largely without any of the capabilities our depot could provide.
“This is an opportunity to test our skills, our deployable processes and ourselves and to serve out our mission in a directly meaningful way to our warfighters. In Guam, if we execute correctly, we can make a huge difference in a short amount of time.”