EOD managers conserve money, manpower with ARTS centralization

  • Published
  • By Heidi Torres
  • AFCEC Public Affairs
TYNDALL AIR FORCE BASE, Fla. --  Personnel at the Air Force Civil Engineer Center Readiness Directorate are centralizing a portion of the All Purpose Remote Transport System, or ARTS, inventory to improve maintenance efficiency.

ARTS, initially developed as a rubber lined tractor to clear small explosives from airfields, comes with several attachments to make it multi-functional.

"One of the things it was used for was a munition storage unit that had collapsed and the munitions in there were crushed making it unsafe to go in," said David Hodgson, the explosive ordnance disposal centrally managed equipment project manager at AFCEC. "They used a remote forklift to go in and pull the pallets out one at a time."

Currently, maintenance of the system is managed at the installation-level, requiring special training for local Airmen. Officials plan to centrally locate a portion of the ARTS inventory  to save time and money for Airmen training.

The goal is to move 25 different systems from bases around the country to a single location within the next year, Hodgson said. There, the manufacturer will service the systems to be ready for deployment and then send them back to their units. If maintenance problems arise, they will be fixed on site.

"It's been used for various purposes throughout the years, but it is now near the end of its lifespan," Hodgson said. "We still have a need for them, but it's too hard to maintain them in the field."