Ogden ALC Who's Who: Major General Andrew E. Busch
Written by Jeff McKaughan
MLF 2009 Volume: 3 Issue: 8 (September)
SYSTEM MAINTAINER:of Aging Weapon Systems
Major General Andrew E. Busch
Commander
Ogden Air Logistics Center
Busch earned his commission in 1979 as a graduate of the U.S. Air Force Academy, Colorado Springs, Colo. In 1981 he earned a Master of Public Administration from Golden Gate University and in 1990 earned a Master of Science in acquisition logistics management, Air Force Institute of Technology, Wright-Patterson AFB, Ohio. He later earned a Master of Science in national resource strategy, Industrial College of the Armed Forces, Fort Lesley J. McNair, Washington, D.C., in 1995.
He is a logistician with a core background in fighter aircraft maintenance. As an aircraft maintenance officer, he served in a variety of sortie production roles and commanded three maintenance squadrons and a maintenance wing. He also has experience in supply, transportation and acquisition issues at the wholesale logistics level. His command experience includes: commander, 432nd Component Repair Squadron and 432nd Maintenance Squadron; and Chief of Maintenance, 13th Fighter Squadron, Misawa Air Base, Japan; commander, 3rd Equipment Maintenance Squadron, Elmendorf AFB, Alaska; chief, weapons system readiness teams, and executive officer, Materiel Management, Headquarters Defense Logistics Agency, Fort Belvoir, Va.; deputy director for logistics management and director for workload transfer, Ogden Air Logistics Center, Hill AFB, Utah; chief, Propulsion Management Division, and chief, Engine Production Division, Oklahoma City ALC, Tinker AFB, Okla.; deputy director for logistics operations, Directorate of Logistics and Sustainment, Headquarters Air Force Materiel Command, Wright-Patterson AFB, Ohio; commander, 402nd Maintenance Wing, Warner Robins ALC, Robins AFB, Ga.; and commander, Defense Supply Center Richmond, Richmond, Va.
Busch is Level III certified in life cycle logistics and Level II certified in program management. He is a designated joint qualified officer.
His awards and decorations include the Defense Superior Service Medal, the Legion of Merit with Oak Leaf Cluster, the Defense Meritorious Service Medal, the Meritorious Service Medal with four Oak Leaf Clusters, the Air Force Commendation Medal, and the Joint Meritorious Unit Award with Oak Leaf Cluster.
Busch was interviewed by MLF Editor Jeff McKaughan.
Q: Congratulations on assuming command of the OO-ALC. I know you’ve only been in place about two months, but have you had time to map out your strategy for the center and what you would like to see in a year’s time?
A: Thank you. This is a great base and a wonderfully supportive community. Ogden Air Logistics Center has a legacy of success, and I will continue working with my staff to put the finishing touches on our strategic roadmap, but my top three priorities haven’t changed since the day I took command of the center.
My first priority matches that of my boss—to reinvigorate Ogden’s role in the Air Force’s nuclear enterprise. That means retaining our experienced personnel, emphasizing accountability and performing rigorous and diligent self-assessment.
Second, we need to become even more effective and efficient in order to overcome the challenges of aging weapon systems. We must ensure our legacy aircraft—workhorses such as the A-10 and F-16—continue to be effective in their current missions, while adapting them to new and more complex missions.
Last, but equally important, is the priority of taking care of our people. This includes our airmen—military and civilian—as well as their families. Our mission at Ogden is demanding, and we must ensure we are ready and capable to support that mission. We must also nurture relationships with our local communities, because they play a key role in supporting our airmen and their families.
Q: Do you see the overall work for the center increasing or decreasing?
A: I expect the workload for the center to remain relatively steady over the next five years, with some areas of growth. Ogden recently received workload assignments for the F-35 Lightning, MQ-1 Predator and MQ-9 Reaper weapon systems. We also continue to activate additional depot maintenance workload for the F-22 Raptor. Some of those gains will be offset by decreases in our F-16 work as the Air Force draws down the F-16 fleet.
We may see a steady increase in our software maintenance efforts over the coming years, as our weapon systems are becoming increasingly software-intensive. Another area of growth for the center is program management in support of the F-22 and space and command, control, communications and intelligence, or C3I, missions.
Q: From a business point of view, what needs to be done to prepare for that?
A: It’s all about resource matching—we need to have the right personnel, processes and infrastructure in place for the workload.
I mentioned the potential for increased requirements in software development and sustainment, and our business is growing in the area of composites and low observable manufacture and repair. We’re working with universities and trade schools to train our existing work force and to provide a pipeline of new skilled workers in the future.
We continue to pursue new partnerships and strengthen existing ones. These partnerships with industry give us experience with commercial processes, enabling us to increase efficiency and provide better support to the warfighter.
Of course we also need to manage existing resources and modernize our infrastructure so we are prepared for the future. We are currently working with private developers, state and local governments, and industry to create a development called Falcon Hill that will allow us to move many of our personnel from 1950s-era warehouses to modernized, efficient office buildings. The center is also aggressively seeking to be energy- independent by reducing our demand on energy and investing in renewable energy technologies such as solar, wind and geothermal.
Q: Let’s talk about some of your specific programs here. The A-10s may be considered the ground soldiers’ best friend. What can you tell me about the program to modify the fleet and take it into the future?
A: The A-10 is a rugged close air support workhorse that will get the job done regardless of the circumstances. It’s just an incredibly dependable aircraft. The Air Force recognized that fact by recalling the A-10 from the retirement line in the 1990s.
Our A-10 program office is the 538th Aircraft Sustainment Group and has multiple initiatives aimed at improving the A-10’s combat capability. The precision engagement program added targeting pod capability and the ability to drop precision munitions, to complement the A-10’s devastating 30-millimeter gun. We’re also installing the situation awareness data link and improved data modem to link the A-10 to a wide range of air and ground assets—most notably the soldier, Marine or airman on the battlefield. Recently we initiated a joint program between A-10 and F-16 Block 30 to install a low-cost, helmet-mounted cueing system for targeting pods like Sniper and Litening, also in response to an urgent operational need.
We have a couple of programs in direct response to the urgent needs of our combatant commanders. These programs are quick-reaction upgrades that directly assist the warfighter. For instance, we’re installing satellite-capable radios to overcome the line-of-sight limits in mountainous regions like Afghanistan. Wartime funds are also enabling an infrared missile warning system to improve A-10 survivability.
One of the challenges with aging fleets—remember, the A-10 was first built in the 1970s—is keeping them capable throughout the service life. We’re currently buying new wings to replace those on the first two-thirds of the fleet, which received an early configuration of wings with less lifespan. This will triple the A-10’s original wing-limited lifespan.
We’re also working to improve reliability and maintainability by fielding an automated wire harness test capability to reduce the timeline to correct hard-to-isolate problems at the organizational level.
The ungainly A-10 is now the most digitally connected combat aircraft in the Air Force inventory, and has the legs for at least another 20 years of firepower. We’re very proud of that.
Q: Another of your important programs is the F-16. What are the major elements that make up that program?
A: The F-16 program office is the 508th Aircraft Sustainment Group. The group provides critical services to maintain and sustain the aircraft, addressing aging fleet issues and also modernizing the F-16 to meet new threats. The group also provides real-time assistance to the warfighter in the field. A team of engineers and program managers oversee a wide variety of programs, including: Falcon STAR, a program that replaces or repairs critical airframe components to ensure the required service life; Common Configuration Implementation Program, or CCIP, which simplifies training and maintenance processes; and beyond line of sight radio, and helmet mounted integrated targeting programs. This proactive approach ensures today’s warfighters have the most advanced capabilities and that we meet the service life goals set for the weapon system.
A major success factor in the F-16 program office—as is the case across all the wings at the center—is a commitment to increased efficiency. We not only need to address the everyday tactical F-16 support issues, but we must also look at how we address those issues in order to streamline our processes. We place great emphasis on increasing our overall aircraft availability, reliability and maintainability—fostering effectiveness, readiness and affordability—while reducing F-16 total ownership costs. That’s the reason for programs like Falcon STAR and CCIP. Additionally, we go to great lengths to share our lessons learned and best practices with other weapon systems and the larger F-16 community. As a result, we are not only improving the F-16 weapon system, but the Air Force as a whole.
Another significant element of the F-16 program is the support provided to 23 international partner countries that own and operate F-16 aircraft. There are over 3,100 F-16 aircraft in operation, and more than 2,000 of those are flown by our international partners. Our program office at Hill works with the international partners to acquire new aircraft from the manufacturer, regenerate retired U.S. Air Force aircraft for foreign military sales, and provide day-to-day sustainment support to keep international aircraft operational.
Q: Staying with platforms, you also manage the ICBM products. For sustainment and maintenance, is the work in this area much different than working with aircraft?
A: We—the Ogden Air Logistics Center—don’t manage ICBMs from a weapon system management perspective. That is the purview of the Air Force Nuclear Weapons Center [AFNWC]. The 526th ICBM Sustainment Group here at Hill reports through AFNWC.
As for the sustainment and maintenance of ICBMs compared to other weapon systems, there are some similarities at the component level, but for the major end items this workload is unique. We deal with solid rocket motors, unique electronics and a legacy weapon system that is challenging to support. We also have depot maintainers resident at the operational missile wings providing direct support of the ICBM infrastructure and the ground systems. Since these assets are not mobile, it makes for some interesting logistical challenges. As you may know, we are undergoing some significant changes in many of our maintenance processes to sharpen our focus on quality and accountability. Our missile maintainers have helped lead that charge.
Q: You are home to the Air Force Center of Industrial and Technical Excellence for low-observable, stealth, aircraft structural composite materials. How did the center earn that distinction? Is this a sustaining kind of work—maintaining the current fleet—or are you also involved in new development work?
A: Ogden has been designated the Center of Industrial and Technical Excellence for several technologies. This particular designation includes composites, plastic, rubber and metal-bonding technologies, as well as advanced composites designed for low observable, or stealth, weapon systems and specialized coatings. We had some experience with these technologies through our work on missiles, B-2 low observables and F-16 structures. The Air Force Research Laboratory Advanced Composites Office is here at Hill, making this the perfect place for sustainment and maintenance of that technology. This workload spans the life cycle spectrum, and we’re involved in development, manufacturing and sustainment of various composites.
Q: With today’s operational environment, what is the biggest challenge that you face at the center?
A: It’s tough to pin down a single biggest challenge, but certainly one of our major challenges is maintaining the right skills mix in our work force. We’ve gone through significant transformation lately, with new and changing missions, the realignment of organizations like the Nuclear Weapons Center, the stand-up of Global Strike Command, and the evolution of the cybermission. That transformation requires that we hire new personnel, train people in new skill sets, or sometimes move folks around.
To complicate matters, many of our civilian airmen are coming up on retirement. It’s imperative that we continue to recruit talented individuals, grow our current personnel by providing the right training and career opportunities, and emphasize the mentoring relationship to capture the expertise of our more senior personnel. We need to build leaders to take over long after I’m gone—this is just one facet of my priority to take care of our people.
Q: What do you do to foster partnerships and take advantage of the skills and expertise of industry partners?
A: We first identify companies with related aerospace capabilities. Then we establish relationships with these companies so that we can learn one another’s strengths and interests. While our skill sets may overlap, we usually find that the government and industry possess different strengths for supporting the warfighter. Partnering allows for a great synergy.
Another great thing about our partnerships is that we’re not limited to the bilateral relationship typical of the federal contracting process. If we determine that one or more additional partners should join us in support of our customer, we simply expand the partnership to build the optimal team. Our partnerships can also be written to support the entire life cycle of a weapon system. Ultimately, we build our partnerships to leverage the organic government and industry expertise to provide the best-value, integrated support to the warfighter.
Q: How strong is the surrounding industrial base that you can take advantage of when you need assistance?
A: In Utah there are companies with world-class capabilities for large missiles and composite structures. We have also received excellent support from local manufacturing companies and businesses that provide engineering services and technical support. We have been consistently pleased with the support these organizations provide, and in the future I foresee the local industrial base becoming stronger.
The state of Utah is working on initiatives for aerospace and defense to attract new companies to the area and to encourage growth in the existing industrial base. Several organizations have expressed interest in locating their operations on base in our Falcon Hill development. This will strengthen mutually beneficial relationships between industry and Hill Air Force Base.
Q: Any final thoughts?
A: It’s a privilege to be asked to serve as the Ogden Air Logistics Center commander. I’m very fortunate to have received clear guidance from my boss on my priorities for the next few years. I’m also very fortunate that my priorities build on the sustained efforts of my predecessors.
Working together with a magnificent leadership team and an outstanding work force, we will focus on support to the nuclear enterprise, making Ogden an even more efficient and effective air logistics center, and developing our work force. ♦