Fleet Readiness Center Southeast (FRCSE) manufactured the first EA-6B Rudder Assembly made at a military facility and fit checked it on an aircraft March 1, the first step in easing supply shortages threatening to ground the Prowler fleet.

When FRCSE could not requisition replacement assemblies, which were failing at a rate of one in two, the manufacturing team approached Naval Inventory Control Point (NAVICP) with a proposal to make the assembly.

NAVICP, the organization responsible for supplying a wide variety of components to the Fleet and the Marine Corps, awarded FRCSE a contract for nearly $1 million to manufacture seven assemblies on a cost-reimbursement basis.

“We had never done anything like this before,” said June Tillett, the FRCSE manufacturing program manager. “It was out there for open bid and no commercial business seemed interested. A lack of interest (on a government contract) is usually for a good reason.”

The FRCSE Machine Shop purchased the honeycomb material, and artisans tried to make the core but with little success without specific machinery. Fleet Readiness Center East artisans at Marine Corps Air Station Cherry Point, N.C. tried to fabricate the skin, but the component’s large size made the task impossible.

“The honeycomb core is sandwiched between a skin that resembles a taco shell,” said Tillett. “It is a very complex assembly with more than 100 parts.”

Tillett, Planner/Estimator Rickey Paradise, Materials Engineer John P. Lee, Composite Repair Shop Supervisor Jerry Watson and Sheet Metal Shop Supervisor Jamie Childers traveled to Texas in April 2010. There they established informal partnerships with two commercial vendors. One to fabricate the honeycomb cores and the other the skins, both using specialized tooling and machinery with materials provided by FRCSE.

Paradise and Danny Parker, an equipment specialist, drew up the contracts to identify the materials and labor needed for the difficult project. In addition, they designed the workflow and incorporated the specifications for bonding the aluminum parts.

In Texas, vendors built and chemically milled the parts that underwent a phosphoric acid anodize process, the preferred aircraft surface treatment for structural bonding of aluminum alloys, especially when used in damp environments.

The FRCSE Machine Shop located the original rudder assembly tooling stored since the early 1970s in a warehouse at the U.S. Army Charles Melvin Price Support Center in Granite City, Ill.

During shipment, a large, outdated fixture secured by only four lag bolts to a wooden pallet broke loose from the platform and sustained damage. FRCSE artisans not only repaired and calibrated the unit but also made the metal pins that secure the rudder in the fixture. A bonding fixture was also shipped. Artisans faced a bigger challenge when deciding how to position the assembly in the fixtures without the benefit of instructions.

In the Composite Repair Shop, fabricators bonded the outer skin and the honeycomb core in a “clean” room. The bonding fixture helped artisans line up the upper and lower ribs and the forward spar. Once in position, the assembly was baked in an autoclave. Supervisor Jerry Watson said if the assembly is “not aligned correctly, it affects the next shop down the line” and ultimately the performance of the rudder.

Once bonded, the unit was sent to the Sheet Metal Shop where artisans drilled holes in the seams and attached numerous fittings and shrouds. They sent the assembly back to the Composite Shop for seam sealing and final finishes. Painters applied a primer coat before aircraft mechanics fit checked the unit on the aircraft.

Aerospace Engineers John Salemi and Shawn Pillsworth provided First Article Testing on the first rudder assembly to ensure conformance with design specifications throughout production.

FRCSE machinists manufactured more than 75 components for each contracted rudder assembly.

As the fallout rate for the rudder assemblies increased, NAVICP awarded FRCSE a second contract for $1.7 million in 2010 to manufacture 12 additional rudders, totaling 19 in all.

FRCSE and NAVICP are discussing a third contract to ensure the legacy aircraft have a ready supply of “Condition A” rudder assemblies.

FRCSE EA-6B Product Manager Mike Butler said the maintenance facility uses rudders taken from aircraft slated for the Stricken Aircraft Reclamation and Disposal Program (SARDIP), a cost-saving measure to reclaim parts and to demilitarize the remainder of the aircraft.

“We have been relying on SARDIP aircraft to meet production and Fleet requirements,” said Butler. “One out of every three Prowlers that comes in for SARDIP has a good rudder.”

The Navy is transitioning from the EA-6B Prowler to the EA-18G Growler, a modified version of the two-seat F/A-18F Super Hornet, with the last squadron transition scheduled in 2014. The Marine Corps plans to continue employing the newest ICAP-III variant of the EA-6B in their four electronic attack squadrons until 2019 according to a Naval Air Systems Command news release of Aug. 3, 2010.