SuPR kit comes to Silver Flag

  • Published
  • By John Burt
  • AFCEC Public Affairs
TYNDALL AIR FORCE BASE, Fla. --  They may not leap tall buildings in a single bound, but the new airfield damage repair "shop-in-a-box" gives Air Force pavement and equipment civil engineers another way to be "super."

It's called the sustainment pavement repair kit, or SuPR kit, and it's now part of Air Force civil engineer contingency training at locations like the Silver Flag exercise site here. The SuPR kit is one component of the Air Force's new airfield damage repair modernization program and will be stored in centralized locations to be deployed when needed.

"The SuPR kit will enhance our capability to repair and sustain deployed airfields," said Maj. David Jane, chief of contingency training at the Air Force Civil Engineer Center's Det. 1 at Tyndall. "It has the equipment, tools and materials for pavement and equipment specialists to fix cracks and spalls, and make other small repairs."

The kit holds more than 350 types of items condensed into five, 20-foot shipping containers and can be transported by aircraft to contingency locations worldwide. It was designed by experts at AFCEC and at the Army's Engineer Research and Development Center in Vicksburg, Miss.

The "workhorse" of the equipment is the kit's 80-horsepower compact tracked loader with multiple attachments.

"It gives us great versatility," said Tech. Sgt. Jason Ward, Silver Flag instructor, Det. 1, 823rd RED HORSE Squadron. "Not only is it the loader, but it has attachments like an impactor, angle broom and asphalt burner."

One attachment is an 18-inch asphalt cold planer, Ward explained, that acts like a small miller to remove and grind the pavement in and around repair areas.

"The cold planer is key to preparing partial depth spall repairs rapidly without damaging the underlying pavement," said Craig Rutland, Air Force airfield pavements subject matter expert. "This process produces superior bond strengths in a fraction of the time compared to conventional saw-cutting and jack-hammering methods. The planer allows engineers to prepare a spall repair area in 10 to 15 minutes compared to 45 to 90 minutes using other methods."

Two of the five shipping containers are devoted to consumable materials, including an initial supply of rapid-setting concrete and pelletized and cold patch asphalt. The kit has enough to allow pavement and equipment specialists to start work as soon as they hit the ground. The SuPR kit also includes some unique materials, acquired and tested by AFCEC's Requirements and Acquisition Division, which helps improve the speed and durability of repairs.

"Pelletized asphalt gives us the ability to package airfield quality asphalt, store it and transport it easily," said Rutland. "Within three to four minutes it provides hot-mix asphalt on the airfield that can be placed and compacted within the repairs."

The kit also contains materials like rapid-setting flowable fill and concrete, added Rutland. The flowable fill provides a solid stabilized base strong enough to withstand aircraft traffic within 90 minutes of placement.

Tyndall Silver Flag currently prepares more than 6,000 civil engineers each year for deployment operations and is one of three like it in the world. The others are located at Andersen Air Force Base, Guam and Ramstein Air Base, Germany.

"With the SuPR kit, our students are able to see the new equipment and materials so they are familiar with it when they have to repair spalls downrange," said Staff Sgt. Ronald Jenkins, Silver Flag instructor, Det. 1, 823rd RED HORSE Squadron. "As a part of the training, we show them ways to effectively configure the five containers into a fully operational shop with working space."