A primer of the United States Air Force aircraft/missile Technical Coordination Program

DISAM Journal,  Winter, 2003  by Forrest Smith

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The program was started under the guidance of Ted Wisdom, SAF/IA. The initial cadre consisted of TCG Chief Ron Barlow, and a staff of five. The current Chief is Richard Scarano. Currently there are fourteen government positions authorized plus three full time in-house support contractors. The TMTCG has been continually growing since its inception. There were twelve charter members including Canada, Belgium, Egypt, Greece, Israel, Japan, Korea, Mexico, Netherlands, Singapore Taiwan and Thailand.

As of September 2003, the TMTCG had eighteen members: Austria, Netherlands, Belgium, Greece, Turkey, Japan, Israel, South Korea, Singapore, Jordan, Malaysia, Taiwan, Oman, Egypt, Bahrain, Mexico, Canada, and Saudi Arabia. Potential future members include Thailand, Pakistan and UAE.

Unique to the TMTCG is support for systems installed on non-US aircraft. The TMTCG has worked closely with several countries to integrate the capability to use US produced missiles and weapons systems on all the aircraft in their inventories. Recently, the TMTCG began supporting aircraft guns and bomb racks. Systems include: F-16 (MAU-12, TER-9A, M61A1 Gun), F-15 (MAU-12, BRU-46 & 47, SUU-20, M61A1 Gun), F-5 (MAU-40 & 50, BRU-27, SUU-11 & 20, M39A-3 Gun), F-4 (SUU-16, 20 & 23, MAU-12, BRU-5, TER-9A, MER-10, AERO-27, M61A1 Gun), and A-7 (TER-9/A, MER-10, MAU-40 & 50, M61A1 Gun).

TMTCG cases are typically "G" cases that may have up to five funding lines:

* Internal Services;

* Contracted Service;

* Studies and Surveys, and Overseas Travel:

* Pyrotechnic Surveillance, and;

* Technical Order Support.

Lines 1, 2, and 5 are mandatory for all cases. Costs are based on number of weapon systems in the member's inventory. Line 4 is an optional program available that can be added to the case on a cost share basis with other members.

Tactical Missile Technical Coordination Group in Action

Shortly after takeoff, a member's pilot reported an apparent systems malfunction had caused the inadvertent launch of an AIM-9 Sidewinder missile. Investigating officials conducted two extensive investigations and concluded that neither the pilot nor the aircraft had been responsible for the uncommanded launch. While they believed that excessive current had caused the damage, they could not indicate a cause for the circuit failure. Officials then notified the TMTCG of the mishap.

The Tactical Missile Technical Coordination Group specialists traveled to the country. Based on their findings, the TMTCG issued immediate guidance to restrict the use of the aircraft's power supplies until corrective action could be defined. Returning Robins Air Force Base, the team members acted to develop an effective method for returning the power supplies to a serviceable condition and conduct a detailed technical investigation of the launcher and power supply components to determine the cause of the uncommanded launch. To correct the problem, the TMTCG developed an inexpensive and simple field-level Time Compliance Technical Order (TCTO). The power supply manufacturer agreed to recall the power supply units manufactured at no cost to the customer. In addition, all parties agreed to incorporate these changes in all future procurement units and require additional production line inspections. In a matter of six months the TMTCG, working with Center Logistics personnel and other Air Force employees, developed an innovative strategy to rapidly evaluate, respond, and correct a problem involving over 300 power supply units. Their efforts allowed the TMTCG member to keep its fleet of aircraft in their warfighting role.