The Department of Defense (DoD) announced today the 2013 winners of the Secretary of Defense Maintenance Awards for depot and field-level units. These awards are presented annually to recognize outstanding achievements in weapon system and military equipment maintenance.
The 2013 Robert T. Mason Depot Maintenance Excellence Award recipient is the Army, UH-60 Black Hawk Recapitalization Program at Corpus Christi Army Depot, Corpus Christi, Texas. The program converts and extends the life of the UH-60A aircraft, which entered the Army inventory in 1979, through equipment overhauls, structural upgrades, and technology and system enhancements to the more advanced UH-60L. The program gives each recapped UH-60 an additional ten years of service, while enabling the Army to avoid procuring newer and costlier replacements. During 2013, the program completed a record high total of 50 recapped aircraft, while achieving lowered recap costs and shortened turnaround times by 17 percent.
The depot-level award is named in recognition of Robert T. Mason, a former assistant deputy undersecretary of defense for maintenance policy, programs, and resources. Mason served as the champion of organic depot maintenance for three decades and was instrumental in transforming DoD organic depot-level operations.
A total of six field-level awards are presented in three categories -- large, medium, and small. The recipients of this year’s Secretary of Defense Field-level Maintenance Awards in the large category are the USS John C. Stennis (CVN-74), Naval Base Kitsap, Bremerton, Wash., and the 27th Special Operations Maintenance Group, Cannon Air Force Base, N.M. Winners in the medium category are the D Company, 3rd Battalion, 82nd Aviation Regiment (Task Force Talon), 82nd Airborne Division, Fort Bragg, N.C., and the USS Emory Land (AS-39), Diego Garcia, British Indian Ocean Territory. Small category winners are the Marine Heavy Helicopter Squadron 361, Marine Corps Air Station Miramar, Calif., and the Naval Sea Systems Command Submarine Performance Monitoring Program, Headquarters, Washington Navy Yard, D.C.
The awards will be presented to the winners at the Secretary of Defense Maintenance Awards Ceremony scheduled for Oct. 30 in the Pentagon Auditorium.
