CHAPTER 4 AVIATION MATERIAL MANAGEMENT

The unique characteristics of today's Navy, for the most part, determine the nature and size of its supply management. Supply management has adapted itself to the changing material requirements and advancing technologies. Supply system procedures have also adapted to respond to the changing operational requirements,

This chapter will help you learn the principles and procedures for managing aviation material. You will learn the procedures for issuing an Aviation Consolidated Allowance List (AVCAL) and Shore Consolidated Allowance List (SHORCAL) to an activity. You will also learn the procedures to properly manage the AVCAL and SHORCAL.

THE NAVY SUPPLY SYSTEM

The term Navy supply system describes that system under the direction of the Commander, Naval Supply Systems Command, consisting of inventory managers and stock points, with primary functions to provide material to the Operating Forces of the Navy.

The major responsibility of the Navy supply system is to provide material in support of the operation and maintenance of aeronautical equipment. Every effort will be made to have material located when and where it is needed. The intent is to make the relationship between the supplier and the user as simple and uncomplicated as possible within the boundaries of logistics directives published by higher authority.

SUPPLY SYSTEM MANAGEMENT

The Navy supply system is part of the total federal supply system. It procures, maintains, and distributes equipment, repair parts, and consumable inventories to Navy customers. 'he basic responsibility for providing supply support to meet user needs is the function of naval inventory control points (NAVICPs). The cognizant systems command and the users determine the individual supply support measures of ashore and afloat units.They also determine the range and depth of items to be carried and position inventories at those designated activities.

The Naval Inventory Control Point-Philadelphia

(NAVICP-Phil) is the primary inventory manager of the aeronautical items used in the Navy. Commonly, the senior AK is involved in managing aeronautical materials in the retail level. Technical aviation material consists of material and spare parts for aircraft, power plants, avionics, electrical and meteorological equipment, safety equipment, and support equipment (SE) both common and peculiar. All of these items are composed of consumable and repairable aviation materials. The repairable items are also referred to as Aviation Depot Level Repairable (AVDLR) or Depot Level Repairable (DLR). AVDLR components represent the most significant dollar investment in the entire aeronautical item inventory. Improved management of these components is essential to the increased readiness of the operating forces and to the reduction of support costs.

The NAVICP-Phil's material mission is the program support of weapons systems, aeronautical equipment, and components under the design, engineering, and configuration control of the Naval Air Systems Command (NAVAIRSYSCOM). Certain items required in support of NAVAIRSYSCOM material programs may be under the management cognizance of several ICPs; however, program information is provided by NAVICP-Phil to these ICPs to enhance the supply support.

MANAGEMENT OF REPAIRABLES

A repairable is an item that, when unserviceable, normally can be economically restored to a serviceable condition through repair procedures. Repairable are grouped as field level repairable (FLRs) or depot level repairable (DLRs). The criteria used to categorize an item as FLR or DLR is based on the lowest level authorized to condemn the item.

The FLRs are condemned and disposed of at the field level. The material control code (MCC) D is assigned to identify FLRs. The inventory levels for the FLR are computed in the same manner as for consumables.

The DLRs are items that can be economically repaired at depot level (D-level) maintenance if it is

beyond the repair capability of the organizational (O-level) or intermediate (I-level) maintenance levels. The DLRs in Not Ready For Issue (NRFI) condition must be shipped to the dept level maintenance activity for repair or disposition. The DLRs are identified by MCCs E, G, H, Q, or X (with the exception of cognizance 6RX).

Advanced technology has made the weapons systems more sophisticated. The equipment, components, and related parts necessary to sustain the weapons systems also have become more complex and specialized.

The weapons replaceable assembly (WRA) is the generic term that includes all replaceable packages of an avionic equipment or system as installed in the aircraft weapons system. The WRA does not include cable assemblies, mounts, fuse boxes, or circuit breakers. The WRA is composed entirely of shop replaceable assemblies (SRAs).

The shop replaceable assembly (SRA) is a generic term that includes all the packages in the WRA. The SRAs include the chassis and wiring as a unit.

NOTE: An SRA may be made of other SRAs.

Several shop replaceable assemblies (SRAs) make up a weapons replaceable assembly (WRA). When a component fails and it is diagnosed that the cause is in an SRA, the entire SRA module containing the defective part is removed and replaced. Repairable items are expensive and normally require a long lead time in procurement. However, if the defective SRA components are repaired and returned to the supply system, the fleet can maintain its readiness.

Stock records at all supply levels must reflect total quantities of all available repairable components. These quantities are reported to the NAVICPs. The report will enable the NAVICPs to have an accurate count of assets to budget for procurement and distribution. The NAVICPs also use the report to determine proper repair workload scheduling to maintain ready for issue (RR) stock levels, The item manager must keep track of both RFI and not ready for issue (NRFI) material to maintain the required quantity. The NAVICP uses this information to decide whether to buy additional quantities or repair NRFI assets to fill the requirements.

Categories of Repairable

Initially, an item is designated as repairable or consumable during the development of the maintenance

plan by the Hardware Systems Command and implemented into the coding process during the provisioning process. This plan includes information necessary to establish the source maintenance and recoverability (SM&R) code. The maintenance plan also designates the lowest maintenance level that is authorized to perform a specific task on an item. The different maintenance levels are the organizational, intermediate, and depot level. The SM&R code reveals the maintenance level authorized to perform the following work:

l Remove and replace the item

l Repair the item

l Condemn the item if it cannot be repaired

After the repair level for an item has been designated, the item is assigned a material control code (MCC) by the item manager. The MCC is a single-letter code used for identification of repairable items, to segregate items into more manageable groups, or to relate to field activities special reporting and/or control requirements.

Ownership

Aviation Held Level Repairable (AVFLRs) may be carried in purpose codes W or L as authorized stock under an activity's fixed allowance. The AVFLRs that are excess to the authorized stock levels maybe carried under purpose code A. Afloat, AVFLRs are carried under stores account 51000 pending issue to customers.

In the DLR program, ownership relates to the account under which the repairable material inventories are held. These accounts include the Defense Business Operations Fund (DBOF), Appropriation Purchase Account (APA), contractor supported, and end-use ashore/afloat.

The DBOF (formerly Navy Stock Fund [NSF]) is a revolving fund with two major assets, cash and material. The DBOF cycles cash into material inventory by having the components repaired at depots, or by buying from vendors or other stores accounts. When material is received, it is placed on the shelf where it is held in Navy stock account 51000 pending requisitioning by a customer. When the material is issued to the customer, the DBOF is reimbursed by the customer's operating funds. The DBOF recycles the cash into inventory through repair or purchases and the cycle is then repeated.

The Appropriation Purchase Account (APA) material is held in Stores Amount 52000. The APA

materials are financed by procurement appropriations. These are the Aircraft Procurement Navy (APN), Weapons Procurement Navy (WPN), or Other Procurement Navy (OPN) appropriations. Some examples of items carried in APA are aircraft engines, radar systems, computers, and soon.

The contractor supported items are identified by a 0_ Cog. The contractor provides the support during the interim pied as agreed upon by the vendor and the Hardware Systems Command (HSC). The contractor support terminates at the Material Support Date (MSD). An MSD is the agreed upon date when the ICP will accept the responsibility for the support of the items. Upon acceptance of responsibility, the items are assigned with the appropriate cognizance symbol for the ICP. Refer to Appendix 17, Part C of NAVSUP P-437 for a list of cognizance symbols and their cognizant ICPs.

The End-Use DLRs are held in Stores Account 55000 for shorn activities. This also applies to afloat units using the Shipboard Uniform Automated Data Processing System-Real lime (SUADPS-RT) with Uniform System Identification (USID) codes C or M. The USID code C applies to ships with designations of CV, CVN, LHA, LPD, and LHD. The USID code M applies to Marine Aviation Logistics Squadrons (MALS). Under this concept, the supporting activity (not the customer) is responsible for the issue, replenishment, and financial accounting of end-use inventories. Ashore, end-use DLRs are carried in the W or L purpose. Afloat, a majority of these items are carried under allowance-type (AT) code 2. 'he aviation activities buy end-use DLRs with Operations and Maintenance funds apportioned to them by their respective type commanders. The supply officer also uses the Operations and Maintenance fund to maintain the inventory of end-use DLRs.

Condition Codes

To manage repairable components properly, you should distinguish the condition of items in stock. The manager must know if an item is in RFI condition, requiring repair, or being repaired. The supply condition code is assigned to classify the materials in terms of their readiness for issue and use. As material moves through the repair cycle, its condition code changes. The most current condition code is used to record the status of the material. A complete listing of supply condition codes is listed in appendix A2 of MILSTRIP/MILSTRAP, NAVSUP P-437, and

appendix 9 of Afloat Supply Procedures, NAVSUP P-485.

Local Repair Cycle Asset (LRCA)

The LRCA storage unit is under the Aviation Support Division/Supply Support Center (ASD/SSC) of a supply department. This unit is responsible for receiving, storing, issuing, and accounting of repairable assets controlled by ASD/SSC. The LRCA is part of the activity's fixed allowance and stored close to the intermediate maintenance activity (IMA). To prevent submitting a requisition to the supply system every time a replacement serviceable unit is needed, NAVICP-Phil provides a fixed allowance to the supporting activity. When an NRFI unit is removed from an aircraft or equipment, an RFI replacement is issued from the LRCA storage unit. The NRFI unit is inducted into the IMA for repair. When the item is repaired locally, it is returned to the stock storage as an RFI asset. When the item cannot be repaired locally, or when the item is an AVDLR, it is then forwarded to the designated repair point/designated support point (DRP/DSP) for repair and an RFI replacement unit is requisitioned from the supply system.

A fixed allowance is established based upon an estimate of the activity's usage considering such factors as failure rates, operating hours, and the I-level repair turn-around time (TAT).

The important factor in determining the allowance quantity of a repairable item is the TAT. The TAT is the length of time from the removal of the NRFI component to its restoration to serviceable condition and returned to the shelf. The objective of the maintenance activity is to keep this TAT as short as possible.

The total repair process can be thought of as a circular system wherein the unserviceable unit enters the repair program in F condition and is repaired and returned to stock in A condition. This process is referred to as depot repair cycle.