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News | Oct. 20, 2020

AIMO transitions from CMO to OU

By Navy Cmdr. Milo Kaciak, DCMA AIMO executive officer DCMA AIMO

Defense Contract Management Agency’s Aircraft Integrated Maintenance Operations Command has officially transitioned from a contract management office into an operational unit, or OU.

A ceremony was conducted in the DCMA spaces at Northrop Grumman’s Aircraft Integration Center of Excellence in St. Augustine, Florida, Oct. 13. Due to the travel restrictions imposed by the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, the ceremony was conducted via video teleconference with Navy Capt. Jeffrey Carty, AIMO commanding officer.

In March 2013, the DCMA director signed a General Order to establish DCMA AIMO as an OU, and formally recognized the new organizational status during the unit’s June change of command. Leadership worked during the last seven months to ensure a seamless transition at the start of the 2021 fiscal year.

AIMO is unique within the agency, as it consists of seven CMOs across 15 states with nearly 600 civilian and military personnel. There are 25 resident and 14 non-resident sites supporting 62 contractors.

The group is a product-aligned operational command. It was established to provide Contract Administration Services in the high-risk arena of aircraft maintenance, repair and overhaul of aging DoD aircraft.

It provides specialized skills critical to the support of the overhaul and refurbishment of aging aircraft to include: corrosion control and repair, non-destructive testing, engineering analysis on fatigue critical and sensitive components, obsolescence, over-and-above work efforts, and aircraft modifications.

It offers flexible and expeditious support to meet rapid and dynamic start-up and shut-down requirements unique to depot maintenance, overhaul and modification efforts. This includes addressing increased risks associated with unproven quality systems, high contractor employee turnover rates, and low-profit-margin contracts common to the aircraft modification, repair, and overhaul industry.

DCMA AIMO consists of a diverse population of contractors, which it holds to a consistent and high standard of practice utilizing a proven set of processes – Aircraft Operations, Quality, Engineering and Contracts – across multiple aircraft platforms to ensure safe and high quality products are delivered on-time to the warfighter.

DCMA AIMO has been DCMA’s Flight Activity Leader, conducting approximately 30 percent of agency flight activity. From FY10-20, AIMO has flown 20,849 sorties over 49,597 flight hours and has delivered 3,872 aircraft.