Fort Belvoir, Virginia –
DLA ENERGY AEROSPACE ENERGY SUPPORTS NASA ROCKET LAUNCH
Defense Logistics Agency Energy Aerospace Energy recently supported NASA’s first U.S. mission to sample an asteroid with a launch from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, Florida.
The activity provided fuel and hydrazine required to launch the Atlas 5 rocket’s orbit of asteroid Bennu, where it retrieved 2 ounces of surface material before returning to Earth.
“It gives me a sense of pride knowing that the hard work of the men and women of DLA Energy Aerospace Energy supports a multiyear space mission to asteroid Bennu,” said Damon Moore, DLA Energy Aerospace Energy chief of contracting.
Bennu is as tall as the Empire State Building, weighs 60 million tons and is about 4.5 billion years old. Scientists hope the organic material from the asteroid will give them an inventory of the materials present at the beginning of the solar system that may have had a role in the origin of life on Earth and potentially elsewhere.
DLA Energy Aerospace Energy partnered with NASA, Lockheed Martin, NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center, the University of Arizona, the U.S. Air Force and NASA’s Canberra Deep Space Communication Complex, a tracking station in Australia, for the project
– Elizabeth Stoeckmann,
DLA Energy Public Affairs
More online: go.usa.gov/xkmSt
DLA LOOKS TO COMMERICAL INDUSTRY FOR INNOVATION
Counterfeit parts prevention and additive manufacturing are among numerous areas that need innovative solutions from commercial industry, Defense Logistics Agency’s research and development chief said during the agency’s first Research and Development Industry Day at the McNamara Headquarters Complex at Fort Belvoir, Virginia, in September.
“There are innovations out there that you have that we may not even be aware of but should be following. It might just be your innovation or new product that’s a logistics solution for DLA,” Kelly Morris told representatives from 14 companies.
Research and development efforts stretch across DLA’s nine supply chains and involve distribution modernization, strategic materials, combat rations and supply chain security. Casting and forging programs are in dire need of innovation, Morris said, because many of the parts on aging weapons systems are no longer available and businesses no longer manufacture them.
“Our casting and forging program is critically important because we’ve got to have sources of supply,” she said.
The agency is also seeking advances in battery technology. Service members on deployment often must carry 20-30 pounds of batteries. Goals include extending battery lifespans, as well as reducing size and weight. Using lithium-ion batteries instead of nickel-cadmium cells may also yield environmental benefits.
DLA is already working with the Navy and the Air Force to accelerate additive manufacturing for parts that are hard to source or backordered, but wants to “move the needle forward.”
“We’re now looking for ways to procure parts via 3D models using our existing DLA processes and manufacturing. We also want to move DLA from a PDF tech data package to a ‘smart’ data and engineering models,” Morris added.
Other areas industry can influence include the modernization of warehouses with robotics and automated ground vehicles, as well as counterfeit parts.
“We want parts that are trusted and true from original equipment manufacturers. It’s not like walking around with a knock-off handbag,” Morris said. “We need real parts that are going to last.”
DLA is also looking for domestic sources for high modulus carbon fiber needed in airframes and the aerospace industry.
– Beth Reece
More online: go.usa.gov/xkmSu
LOUISIANA FLOOD VICTIMS GET LIFESAVING SUPPLIES FROM DLA
To support humanitarian efforts in the wake of overwhelming flooding in Louisiana in August, an expeditionary team from Defense Logistics Agency Distribution deployed to support the Federal Emergency Management Agency’s Incident Support Base in Montgomery, Alabama.
The expeditionary team, led by John Heikkinen from DLA Distribution Headquarters and Jason Middleton from DLA Distribution San Joaquin, California, sent 16 members from DLA Distribution Red River, Texas, and two Information Operations employees from DLA Distribution Warner Robins, Georgia, to manage the dispatch of supplies to residents of 20 Louisiana parishes designated as federal disaster areas. The supplies ranged from food and water to baby formula and generators.
“This is how we show our commitment to interagency partners. We are on the ground, right away, ready to support,” said DLA Distribution Commander Army Brig. Gen. John S. Laskodi.
Louisiana’s governor, John Bel Edwards, called the disaster, caused by prolonged rainfall in the southern parts of the state, a “historic, unprecedented flooding event.”
– Brianne M. Bender,
DLA Distribution Public Affairs
More online: go.usa.gov/xkmSS
NOVEMBER IS NATIVE AMERICAN HERITAGE MONTH
Performers from the Comanche tribe put on a show at Sheppard Air Force Base, Texas, in honor of Native American Heritage Month. In 1990 President George H. W. Bush approved a joint resolution designating November as “National American Indian Heritage Month”.
