In April, the Sir Winston Churchill LOA Chapter capitalized on the LOA National theme of Innovation through two professional development tours.
The LOA Chapter members from the 100 ARW, 48 FW, and 352 SOW touring the 48 MXG’s Futures Flight, which also serves as the 48 FW Spark Cell. The tour showcased the flight’s tactical innovation capabilities, including 3D printing, scanning, process improvement, and project execution in direct support of Warfighter requirements across multiple Wings.
The visit also included a formal professional development brief from Futures Flight Superintendent, MSgt Joshua Simmons, who educated 10 logisticians from eight different work centers on how to incorporate, scale, and operationalize innovation within their own teams. Rather than presenting innovation as a single tool, prototype, or technology showcase, the brief emphasized how tactical innovation must be measured by operational return: problems solved, projects completed, friction removed, and time returned to the mission.
Over the last 12 months, Futures Flight has completed 27 total projects while returning an average of 80 man-hours per project back to the 48 MXG. This measurable output reflects the real value of operationalizing innovation at the tactical level. When the right structure, attention, and resources are provided, innovation becomes more than ideation; it becomes a disciplined mechanism for restoring time, increasing effectiveness, and improving readiness across the maintenance enterprise.
Members from the Sir Winston Churchill LOA Chapter Council and local UK business owners were invited to tour London’s Premier Luxury Automotive Event by Mr. Simon Lane, owner of UK business ENCOR Design. His company is founded on innovation, remastering and reengineering a 1975 Lotus Esprit into a carbon fiber, twin-turbo V8 racecar, capable of accelerating from 0-100kph in 4 seconds titled the “Series 1,” while maintaining original international homologation standards and leveraging existing supply chains. For example, ENCOR Design prioritized repurposing parts originally designed for different vehicles to incorporate into the manufacturing of the Series 1. Where existing parts did not fit, ENCOR Design 3D printed parts, such as the sensor-integrated mirrors. This minimized costs, labor, and build time. Applying these lessons learned from ENCOR Design, the Tri-base Wings are leveraging tooling, parts, support equipment, and experience from 3 MAJCOMs embedded within to minimize the tyranny of isolation impacting supply wait time and maintenance downtime.
Professional development events such as these, focusing on process improvement and innovation in logistics, directly enables the warfighter. At the end of April, the 100 MXG’s KC-135s achieved a daily 100% Mission Capability (MC) Rate three separate times and finished the month with a 4-year best 75.2% monthly average MC rate, 17.7% above the 12-month average! The KC-135 is the oldest asset still flying missions in the DoD and as the only permanently assigned air refueling capability throughout USAFE/AFAFRICA providing fuel to US and NATO partners, this MC Rate not only enables global combat readiness and capability but is a testament to the knowledge and tenacity of the maintainers, logisticians, and Sir Winston Churchill LOA network!