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ICBM sustainment roadshow visits Malmstrom

  • Published
  • By Airman 1st Class Daniel Brosam
  • 341st Missile Wing Public Affairs
Individuals from multiple agencies involved in sustaining the intercontinental ballistic missile Minuteman III visited Malmstrom Air Force Base Feb. 1-2.

Airmen from Air Force Global Strike Command, the ICBM systems directorate, the 748th Supply Chain Management Group and the Defense Logistics Agency briefed Airmen in the base auditorium on advancements that provide solutions to common problems in the nuclear enterprise.

The purpose of the roadshow was to communicate Minuteman III sustainment improvement actions that have been taken or already in progress, as well as how and when those initiatives will impact missile operators, maintainers and security forces in the missile field.

According to Tech. Sgt. Steven Sago, 741st Maintenance Squadron power, refrigeration and electric supervisor, the roadshow helped his team understand what senior leaders are doing to streamline the acquisition of replacement parts.

Currently, the process of ordering the parts necessary for missile maintenance can take up to three years. Because the parts are older and not in stock, the wait time to receive the parts delays maintenance. Not having parts is straining the ability for the maintainers to efficiently and effectively execute their duties.

“One of the issues is that the equipment is old and the producing companies don’t exist anymore,” Sago said. “Now we have to order the parts from (subject matter experts) to find out exactly what we need and try to find it through a new manufacturer.”

One initiative in development is the zero-to-one initiative. This initiative aims to ensure at least one replacement part is always available, reducing and resolving MICAP, or highly needed items, and backorders.

“For us, the roadshow was mainly about progress on the parts ordering system and how they are trying to make it easier on us to order parts in the future,” said Senior Airman Robert Hawkins, 741st MXS PREL team chief. “The roadshow taught me a lot about new initiatives that are coming up in the next five to 10 years.”

Malmstrom has seen improvements in the last two years, and a roadshow informing Airmen whose job it is to provide national security is a step in the right direction.

“It was an informative briefing,” Sago said. “We had a chance to talk to each presenter to route up the problems we were having and they wrote it down to find a solution”