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Two of AFIT/LS’s instructors, Mike Farmer and Guy Fritchman, recently participated in the Air Force and Navy’s Integrated Logistics Assessment of the country’s newest jet fighter, the Joint Strike Fighter (F-35). An ILA is an early assessment of an acquisition program, made by a group of about two dozen experts in various logistics disciplines, to evaluate whether or not the program is placing an adequate emphasis on the logistics planning and execution. The elements evaluated will impact a significant amount of resources and operational support over the JSF’s entire life cycle. The group has evaluated actions taken to ensure the DoD gets the best logistically supportable and affordable aircraft possible. Where opportunities for improvement are found, the assessment team made specific recommendations and ultimately will provide the program Red, Yellow, or Green scores in a host of areas. These ratings are not only available to the program’s Single Manager, but also to its Milestone Decision Authority. Some examples of the areas evaluated include: Logistics Budgeting and Funding, Supply Support, Support Equipment, Technical Data, Training, Maintenance Planning, Performance Based Logistics, Computer Resources Support, Design Interface, and Product Support Management. The evaluation got underway in the Crystal City Joint Program Office in June and will likely continue through October 2007.

Prior to this ILA, Guy and Mike helped HQ AFMC build the Command’s basic approach to conducting ILAs and helped orchestrate the initial ILA, done on the CV-22, to flesh out the details of that process. The generic ILA process, while based on the Navy’s process, has been tailored to fit the AF’s unique support requirements.

In addition to the F-35 ILA, Guy and Mike have been working with HQ AFMC/A4 to develop a new course on the administration of ILAs. This course is being designed to help people prepare to be assessors. It is already being offered as a workshop, and later it will be a full-blown course. Three offerings are being given in FY07 in August and September at Hanscom AFB, Eglin AFB, and Robins AFB. Keep an eye on these pages and the AFIT/LS Catalog to see the FY 08 schedule for upcoming offerings of this Assessors’ Course. Additionally, if any special sessions on the topic of ILAs are desired for your unit, please contact AFIT/LS for any potential out-of-cycle scheduling.  Mike Farmer can be reached at michael.farmer@afit.edu or (937) 255-7777 ext 3234, and Guy Fritchman can be reached at guy.fritchman@afit.edu or (937) 255-7777 ext 3203.