Malmstrom Air Force Base, Montana, has a new maintenance team with the specific mission of quickly fixing problems in the base's aging missile control centers, a long-standing concern issue facing the service's nuclear mission.
The Survivable Systems Team's mission is geared toward addressing problems in the aging centers that were outlined in an Air Force Global Strike Command's survey of problems in the missile career field and problems such as broken blast doors that were the subject of , along with high-profile media reportsof problems such as broken blast doors.
"Our sole job is to work on capsule maintenance," Tech. Sgt. Sheldon Mason, the team's noncommissioned officer of the team, said in a Malmstrom news release. "This team is predominantly set up to go out on a moment's notice for [launch control center] maintenance."
Malmstrom is was the first of the service's three missile bases to stand up such a the team. Teams will stand up at F.E. Warren Air Force Base, Wyoming, and Minot Air Force Base, North Dakota, though no schedule has been there has not been a schedule announced. Global Strike Command has budged $300,000 for tools and equipment for the teams.
Malmstrom The base said the team will focus on tasks such as blast door maintenance, hydraulic and pneumatic systems upkeep, and operator chair replacements. These tasks will be prioritized separately from regular missile and launch facility maintenance.
The team stood up last month, with its their first task occurring on Oct. 16. In 14 hours, tThe airmen repaired worked for 14 hours, repairing crew member seat pans, identified an air leak in a system, performed an unscheduled shoring of a suspended floor in a launch control center, and repaired a blast door, according to the release.
The announcement of this team came shortly before Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel on Nov. Oct. 14 outlined a plan to improve the military's nuclear enterprise, based on two separate reviews of problems facing the Air Force's and Navy's nuclear mission.
An independent review found that missile crews cite equipment that has remained broken for months or years, work orders that are five years or more old or older, and one control center in such disrepair it was shut down by launch crews. , according to the report, which The review was chaired by former Air Force Chief of Staff retired Gen. Larry Welch and retired Navy Adm. John C. Harvey.
"The [launch control centers] are badly in need of an end-to-end survey of discrepancies and an urgent continuing program to address and correct the issues," the report states. "In some cases, there are corrective actions underway, or at least planned, to address the issues. Some occur at a normal pace, some with repeated delays, but few with visible evidence to those performing the mission of high priority or urgency."
