The Air Force Life Cycle Management Center, in collaboration with the Air Force Sustainment Center, will open a joint technologies center to advance emerging technologies, leading to improved sustainment of Air Force weapons systems and support equipment.
The facility will be the fourth Advanced Technology and Training Center that the Air Force is opening. The other three ATTC’s are located in Dayton near Wright-Patterson AFB; middle Georgia near Robins AFB; and Pittsburgh, a hub of automation and artificial intelligence.
The new facility will be known as the Advanced Technology and Training Center-Wasatch and will include technologies such as polymers and metals additive manufacturing, reverse engineering and scanning, cold spray repair, modeling and analysis, and composites repair technologies.
The ATTC-Wasatch, co-operated by AFLCMC and the AFSC, will be a facility to train with and qualify new technologies without interrupting actual aircraft maintenance production.
Additionally, ATTC-Wasatch will provide rapid response solutions, mitigating the sustainment challenges faced today and into the future. It will allow engineers and operators to collaborate and integrate great ideas with technology, accelerating processes and improving weapon system readiness.
The collaboration will continue to build on previous successes, such as molds and dies, training aids, jigs and fixtures, protective covers and end use parts, to provide rapid solutions for customers with challenging problems.
“This facility is unique in that it will be co-operated with the Air Force Life Cycle Management Center and the Air Force Sustainment Center,” said Debora Naguy, chief, Product Support Engineering Division. “These organizations have two different missions, yet will be working seamlessly together. This is a game changer and it will bring speed and collaboration to the Air Force.”
This new center will seek to capitalize on the government, industry and academic talent of people in the state of Utah and will encourage new opportunities for local high schools, community colleges and universities. It will provide quick reaction and qualification capabilities for new technologies and processes, training capabilities for advanced technology equipment and processes, and cross-discipline collaboration space to share ideas and interact real-time in a fast-paced and dynamic environment.
By leveraging these capabilities, the center will allow the staff to work collaboratively to foster innovative thinking, increase education and training and push state-of-the-art manufacturing.
“The state of Utah is a sweet spot, and we are excited to have the ATTC here,” said Maj. Gen. Stacey Hawkins, commander, Ogden Air Logistics Complex, Hill AFB. “This is due to the local eco-system, a world-class work force, robust aerospace knowledge, great universities and unparalleled support from the public. This ATTC will bring cutting-edge equipment which will affect people from all walks of life, from the organic depot to the colleges and universities.”
Anticipated opening of the facility is early 2020.
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