Aircraft BATTLE DAMAGE Repair: The Air Force Capability You Never Hear About
4/24/202635 min
When two brand new F-35s sustained catastrophic damage in separate accidents, the Air Force faced a decision most people don't know exists — write them off as total losses or call in one of the most specialized and least talked about teams in the United States Air Force. They called in the Aircraft Battle Damage Repair team. ABDR.
In this episode, I sit down with General Sebren and Senior Master Sergeant Cross to break down exactly what aircraft battle damage repair is, how the decision gets made to repair or write off a damaged aircraft, and what it takes to put a $100 million fighter jet back together when the damage doesn't fit any technical order or regulation ever written. We dive into the "Frankenstein F-35" — two damaged airframes combined into one flyable jet — and what that process actually looks like from the people who did it.
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First 90 secondsSpeaker 1· Host0:00
Two brand new F-35s were so damaged in two separate aircraft accidents that the Air Force almost wrote off these brand new jets. That's when a unique capability that most people don't realize exists inside the Air Force stepped in, and that's the Aircraft Battle Damage Repair team, ABDR. Now, this is an impressive group of people that are able to put Humpty Dumpty back together again when everything goes sideways. And as you might imagine, when planes break and when they have catastrophic things happen to them, they don't always happen in the most convenient spots, not next to a major repair facility. And that's why it requires a group of individuals who have a special skill set to go out into the field, sometimes in the most austere environments or environments that aren't necessarily friendly. Maybe they're taking incoming fire, or maybe it's just difficult to get to. Hot, cold, not the ideal situation when you're having to do complex, unique, and one-off repairs on major weapons systems. Now, the group that comprises the Aircraft Battle Damage and Repair team, that is what they're born to do. Now, I think given what's going on in today's world, this is a very relevant conversation, and it'll shed just a little bit of light on the capability that the United States Air Force possesses when it comes to repairing aircraft that receive battle damage. Maybe not even battle damage. Say they take a bird strike or a catastrophic engine failure that causes damage to the wing section or an engine nacelle, et cetera. And today, I'm fortunate to be able to sit down with General Sebren. He joined me on a Sunday, which was very gracious of him, to discuss just a little bit of his team and the capability, as well as Senior Master Sergeant Cross,