Base commander addresses initial 416th, 445th FLTS consolidation plan

  • Published
  • By Jet Fabara
  • 412th Test Wing Public Affairs
EDWARDS AIR FORCE BASE, Calif. --  Space utilization, optimization and consolidation are practices that Team Edwards has taken on with full determination in every aspect of its mission.

In line with those efforts, Brig. Gen. Michael Brewer, 412th Test Wing commander, recently addressed personnel from the 416th Flight Test Squadron and the 445th FLTS during two commander's calls held Oct. 23 to initially discuss what will be the consolidation of two historic squadrons into one.

"At the end of the day, it comes down to being more fiscally conscious, more efficient and more competitive within today's economic constraints and environment," said Brewer. "If you take a look at the work there is for the near future, you'll find that there is more work than we have F-16s available to support. If that's the case, we have to start looking at how we do business differently. That's why we are doing this."

According to Brewer, the main reason for the commander's calls was to explain why the consolidation was occurring and to give personnel a general idea of how the merger would occur.

"At the end of this fiscal year, eight F-16s are going away and we are losing about $95 million across the five-year budget plan in Research, Development, Test and Evaluation along with losing 160 hard billets," Brewer said. "If you look at the amount of aircraft we have between both squadrons, we have the luxury of having two fleets - a test fleet and support fleet. Ideally, it is the way to operate, but in going back to working under the current fiscal restraints, we have to start thinking about our F-16s as a single fleet. Part of this consolidation will depend on how we manage the schedule and operate differently. Over time, it will cause a reduction in overhead, because we have to remember we are always morphing into what the next program will be."

During the meeting, base leadership from the 412th Maintenance Group and 412th Operations Group were also on hand to answer personnel questions during the merger.
 
"At the very beginning, once the merger occurs, the first thing we're going to try and do is get the normal processes together and ensure that everything we're doing from all our programs is still running," said Col. Robert Lepper, 412th MXG commander. "After the merger is done, our next goal will be to cross train and educate each other. The one place we'll have to tackle is the oddities of the 416th FLTS Falcon fleet and to get rid of any vulnerabilities. It's essential that we have enough people to maintain the aircraft and that we make sure we have enough people familiar with each aircraft, so we know we can schedule the right aircraft for the right mission on the right day."

"As for the billets, it affects no personnel, just how we operate. In terms of our core work, it's not really a factor. Our folks did an outstanding job regulating billets and projecting positions for attrition," said Brewer. "Military personnel would simply cross over and permanent over hires and permanent Unit Manning Document civilian billets were accounted for in the process."

In addition to talking about the squadrons' consolidation, Brewer commented on the executive transport support that the Wing would no longer oversee.

"We were providing executive transport, but after evaluating how much the executive transport had to do with the test mission here, it really didn't make sense in the end in terms of efficiency," added Brewer.

In the upcoming months, the 412th Test Wing, along with both squadrons, will prepare to layout each phase of the consolidation process for personnel to merge by summer 2015.