Rapid Repairs, Global Impact: CCAD Recognized for Excellence in FY26 AAME
Established in 1982, the AAME is an annual evaluation program that honors Army units and activities demonstrating superior maintenance operations across all components. The program emphasizes sustaining field maintenance readiness, enhancing unit readiness, improving efficiency and reducing waste, and promoting best practices across commands.
Aviation Readiness Maintenance Support Specialist Rico Schrader said, “Field Team Operations extends the reach of the Organic Industrial Base to commanders worldwide for immediate access to depot-level maintenance capability when mission requirements cannot wait for traditional repair timelines.”
In fiscal year 2025, CCAD’s depot field team, comprised of hand-selected structural and composite artisans, restored 61 mission-critical rotary-wing aircraft to fully mission-capable status.
Field Team Operations Chief George Reed said, “their exceptional skill directly enabled us to expedite the return of critical assets, rapidly restoring vital capabilities to the warfighter.”
By deploying teams and delivering depot-level maintenance in theater, CCAD reduced traditional induction timelines from 180–270 days to approximately 15–30 days. As Schrader stated, “Our success is measured by how quickly and safely we return those aircraft to the fight.”
These efforts resulted in the return of 9,000 aircraft days of availability to the Joint Force and generated $73 million in validated cost avoidance. The Field Team Operations expeditionary model provides global customers with engineering reach-back; advanced scanning; additive manufacturing; and specialized structural and composite repair capabilities.
According to Reed, “Eliminating the need to ship aircraft back to the depot has significantly compressed maintenance cycle times and expedited return-to-service timelines, while substantially reducing overall costs for our customers.”
The Army Organic Industrial Base is a critical component of the broader Defense Industrial Base, providing readiness, operational capability and surge capacity.
Congratulations to Red River Army Depot, the first-place recipient of the FY26 AAME at the Army depot level.
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