HILL AIR FORCE BASE, Utah -- Behind every depot-repaired aircraft returned to the combat fleet is a sprawling network of common, specialized, and precision tools that must be flawlessly tracked, calibrated, and delivered worldwide.
For the 309th Maintenance Support Group, managing this complex logistics pipeline is critical to keeping the Ogden Air Logistics Complex and its geographically separated units, or GSUs, operating. By centralizing its tooling support, the group has replaced a decades-old, decentralized model with a streamlined operation that has already generated more than $100,000 in year to date cost avoidance.
According to group leadership, consolidating these pipelines is a strategic evolution in combat readiness—directly supporting the Air Force Sustainment Center’s priority to deliver supply chain readiness and resiliency—and is a critical step in modernizing the command’s logistics enterprise.
“Centralizing global tooling support under Hill AFB creates a faster, more accountable sustainment pipeline that reduces duplication, improves visibility, and gets mission-essential tools to maintainers wherever and whenever they are needed,” said Chad Mather, 309th Maintenance Support Group deputy director. “This is more than tool management. It is logistics discipline that strengthens readiness, enables combat power, and allows our maintainers to stay focused on returning combat capability to the fleet.”
The depot’s backbone
To understand the impact of this effort, it helps to understand the unique mission of the 309th MXSG. While other depot teams physically overhaul aircraft and weapons systems, the 309th MXSG provides the industrial, technical, and production support capabilities that keep the Ogden ALC’s maintenance enterprise running. The group manages critical functions such as tooling and equipment support, precision calibration, non-destructive inspection, material and chemical analysis, verification testing, industrial engineering, facility maintenance, and infrastructure projects that enable depot production across the complex.
Under this umbrella, the tooling support flight functions as the life-support system for aircraft mechanics. Unlike standard automotive repair environments, depot maintenance requires highly specialized, custom-engineered, and tightly calibrated equipment, collectively called tooling, to repair advanced aerospace systems.
Valerie Larson, the 309th MXSG tools flight chief, explained that her flight acts as a centralized logistics hub to keep these assets moving.
“Think of us as a highly specialized, centralized tool store supporting 23 ‘garages’ here at Hill AFB and six more GSUs across the globe,” Larson said. “All requests funnel through our main warehouse. From there, we ensure mechanics have the exact tools and functional equipment they need, precisely when they need them, so they can keep aircraft flying.”
A global “tool store”
Prior to 2015, individual GSUs managed their own tool procurement, equipment calibration, and heavy machinery maintenance locally, according to Larson. This siloed approach frequently led to duplicated efforts, fragmented inventory tracking, and delays in securing specialized tools.
Today, the 309th MXSG supports six GSUs across the globe:
• Minot AFB, North Dakota
• F.E. Warren AFB, Wyoming
• Joint Base San Antonio-Randolph, Texas
• Malmstrom AFB, Montana
• Vandenberg Space Force Base, California
• Kadena Air Base, Japan
Plans are also underway to expand this standardized support model to the 309th Aerospace Maintenance and Regeneration Group at Davis-Monthan AFB, Arizona.
In addition to cost efficiencies, strategic restocking ensures the warehouse maintains a high-readiness baseline of an 85 percent or higher issue-ready rate, building and deploying required tool kit assets at a moment’s notice.
Larson added that the real return on investment is measured in maintainer focus.
“It completely removes an administrative and logistical burden from the maintainers,” Larson said. “When our mechanics spend less time worrying about broken tools, they spend more time repairing aircraft. This direct shift in focus translates to faster repair times, higher aircraft availability, and ultimately a ready warfighter.”
A technical transition
Implementing this global support model required overcoming data and technical hurdles. Larson said that leveraging existing enterprise software to integrate data from all six bases into a single, centralized database required significant research, communication, and manual labor because each unit previously used a different tracking method.
To maintain real-time inventory oversight, the group is scaling existing automated tool vending technologies at supported locations to ensure asset accountability without the need for costly new logistics platforms. In addition, the team is working to acquire a portable 3-D scanner, which will allow technicians to map out tool layouts directly on the shop floor or while deployed on temporary duty.
Larson credited the success of the transition entirely to her team’s adaptability.
“I am most proud of the adaptability and dedication of our personnel,” Larson said. “They embraced a massive culture shift. They worked to ensure that neither Hill AFB nor our remote GSUs ever experienced a drop-in mission support during this transition.”