CorrDefense - DoD News about Preserving Military Assets

Technology

Storage Testing Ensures Cargo Loader is War-Ready

By Cynthia Greenwood

Technicians prepare a Halvorsen loader in Orlando, Florida, for a long-term storage test. Photo courtesy of Air Force Tunner/Halvorsen Systems Squadron.

To ensure that American troops overseas are kept well supplied, the Air Force depends on the Halvorsen cargo loader. Created according to military specifications by Orlando-based FMC Airport Systems, the Halvorsen loader is small and light, weighing only 32,000 pounds. Easily reaching military and commercial aircraft cargo doors, it also can be transported onto the C-130 and other small planes.

In September 2003 Warner Robins Air Logistics Command and FMC Airport Systems began jointly examining the long-term storage capabilities of the Halvorsen loader. "The two- and three-year storage experiments allow the Air Force to make the Halvorsen a war-ready material," said John Harmon, the Halvorsen Lead Engineer for Modern Technologies Corp. assigned to the Tunner/Halvorsen Systems Squadron. "These tests allow the Air Force to put assets away for different periods and protect them while they are at it."

The Air Force and FMC Airport Systems are conducting a three-year test on three cargo loaders in Orlando, until Sept. 2006. A second test on two different loaders at Cape Canaveral, Florida, will finish in April 2007. Before starting each test, technicians filled the loaders with engine oil, hydraulic and transmission fluids, and engine coolant. Throughout the test, the loaders have been stored inside large bags holding a vapor corrosion inhibitor to prevent surface rusting. The equipment has received no other fluid additives or maintenance.

When the loaders are removed from storage, technicians will take fluid samples."FMC will then conduct a routine Acceptance Test Plan to measure each loader's functionality, and if it passes all tests, the loader is ready to go to war. If we find a problem, we'll fix it. To look at the corrosion we take lots of pictures and compare them," Harmon explained. "We don't expect serious corrosion issues with the three Orlando-bagged loaders because of the moderate climate, but the two Cape Canaveral loaders should have more corrosion because of the salt and moisture in the air."

Aircrews at Charleston AFB and other bases have relied on the Halvorsen loader since 2001 to shuttle cargo to Ramstein, Germany, and Incirlik, Turkey. Mobile airlift support units use both overseas bases to retrieve supplies and shuttle them to Iraq and Afghanistan.

The loaders have a 30-year life cycle, Harmon noted."When the tests are complete, we'll get the data, give it to FMC, and they will write instructions in the technical orders on how to store Halvorsen loaders. Our ultimate goal with these experiments is to extend their life when they're not being used. If you're not using them, there's no point in having them exposed to the environment."

This article is the second in a series that examines the long-term storage and "war-ready material" testing on the Halvorsen loader, an initiative that began in September 2003 as a joint effort by Warner Robins Air Logistics Command and FMC Airport Systems. The first article appeared in the Oct. 2005 issue of CorrDefense. (Click here)