The 530th Commodities Maintenance Squadron at Hill Air Force Base has completed a year-long recovery to restore vital testing capabilities for B-2 Spirit and F-22 Raptor Aircraft Mounted Accessory Drives (AMA
Ds), according to a September 18 report. The initiative addressed a potential sustainment gap for the nation's stealth fleets after the only test stand capable of validating the drives failed.
The failure occurred when the test stand's primary motor suffered repeated burnouts caused by overheating bearings, which at one point caused the unit to emit flames. Because the original manufacturer is out of business and no technical blueprints or replacements were available, the outage lasted months and impacted weapon system readiness. Capt. Douglas Teutsch, the 530th CMMXS Director of Operations, noted that AMA
Ds are critical because they power fuel controls, generators, and hydraulic pumps as the engine fires.
Maintenance teams worked through weekends to install, align, and calibrate a new motor in seven days, completing the task faster than the standard 14-day window. During the process, engineers discovered that oiler nozzles were not properly lubricating the bearings, leading to design changes intended to keep temperatures below 130 degrees. Additionally, a technical requirements analysis uncovered 30 deficiencies in outdated technical data. One significant improvement included a redesigned spline adapter that reduced vibration during AMAD testing by 37 percent.
The squadron's efforts included logging 563 overtime hours to restore multiple aircraft to mission-capable status. In one instance, five mechanics and engineers manually dismantled and rebuilt a failed B-2 integrated drive generator gearbox, a move that saved $39,000 and prevented an eight-month outage. To prevent future errors, the team reconfigured two gearboxes and four hoses with new fittings to ensure B-2 and F-22 configurations cannot be mistakenly interchanged, eliminating a $7 million risk.
To bolster future readiness, the team has implemented a two-man concept for all test operations to monitor system levels and make adjustments while serving as a safety measure. The squadron has also secured backups of critical parts and is working to obtain a second motor to ensure any future equipment failures do not result in prolonged outages.
