Depot Maintenance: Status of the Public-Private Partnership for Repair of the Dual-Mode Transmitter in the F-16 Fire-Control Radar

Abstract : A Department of Defense (DOD) instruction directs that public-private partnerships for depot level maintenance shall be employed whenever cost-effective in providing improved support to the warfighter, and to maximize the utilization of the government s facilities, equipment, and personnel at DOD depot-level maintenance activities.1 DOD defines a public-private partnership for depot-level maintenance as a cooperative arrangement between an organic2 depot-level maintenance activity and one or more private-sector entities to perform DOD or defense-related work or to utilize DOD depot facilities and equipment, or both. In April 2011, officials at Ogden Air Logistics Complex the complex that repairs some F-16 fighter aircraft components for the U.S. Air Force fleet projected a declining U.S. workload for maintenance of dual-mode transmitters a key component of the F-16 fire-control radar. The projected decline from 562 units in 2010 to 356 units in 2015 was based on plans at the time for reductions in the fleet of F-16 aircraft. To bring additional workload into its repair facility at no extra cost to it, the Ogden Air Logistics Complex, in August 2011, entered into an implementation agreement under an existing direct-sale partnership3 with Lockheed Martin for the repair of certain foreign military sales customers' dual-mode transmitters in their F-16s. Senate Report 113-176, accompanying S. 2410, a proposed bill for The Carl Levin National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2015, mandated that GAO examine the Air Force s public-private partnership program for the repair of the dual-mode transmitter in the F-16 fire-control radar to determine the cost savings from the program and the feasibility and advisability of other services adopting similar programs.