Innovation and forward repair capabilities will be critical to the Army aviation enterprise as the service prepares for large-scale combat operations, a senior leader said.

In remarks at a recent Hot Topic on Army aviation hosted by the Association of the U.S. Army, Maj. Gen. Lori Robinson, commanding general of Army Aviation and Missile Command, pointed out that the supply chain for aviation parts is still experiencing delays caused by the COVID-19 pandemic that began in 2020.

Robinson, a CH-47 Chinook pilot by trade who took command July 10, said she observed in her first weeks on the job that the ability of the Army’s aviation depots and maintainers to make timely repairs is hampered by a “strained supply chain environment” and sometimes by the level of experience in the workforce.

Relying on the sustainment capacity resident in the continental United States is not enough to ensure aviation platforms are at their highest state of readiness, particularly in the Indo-Pacific theater, she said.

“The concept of integrated deterrence applies to our ability to sustain as much as it applies to our ability to operate, so being able to regenerate readiness at the point of need is a form of deterrence,” Robinson said.

The regeneration of readiness is done by forward teams from the Corpus Christi Army Depot in Texas, where there has been some success with integrating technologies such as 3D printing.

As an example, a Corpus Christi Army Depot crew in South Korea was able to repair a cracked structural component for an AH-64 Apache helicopter by scanning the part and working with a manufacturing team back in Texas. “It kept the aircraft, most importantly, on the [Korean] peninsula and was able to provide that repair forward,” Robinson said.

The Army continues to integrate those types of technologies where it can to “save time, save money and transport, and keep readiness at the highest level that we can,” Robinson said.

The Army also is considering a regional sustainment framework in conjunction with allies and partners that fly the same aircraft, a plan that will complement the capabilities of the Army’s organic industrial base, Robinson said.

“If we exercise now in competition, then certainly we can scale it in crisis or conflict, because we do know that … it will be a contested environment, it will be under constant observation and, particularly in the Pacific, we’re going to be operating in areas where it’s hard to move big things,” Robinson said.