Four grounded JSTARS back in action | Air Force Times

The Air Force said Monday that four JSTARS aircraft, which had been grounded due to suspected maintenance problems, have been repaired and are operational again.

The Joint Surveillance Target Attack Radar System airplanes were grounded at Robins Air Force Base in Georgia, where the 116th Air Control Wing is located, after concerns were raised about the maintenance work done by Northrop Grumman. Air Force Materiel Command head Gen. Ellen Pawlikowski said Sept. 21 that she ordered the grounding after a series of quality issues were found on planes recently maintained at the Northrop Grumman Technical Services depot in Lake Charles, Louisiana.

In an email, AFMC spokesman Derek Kaufman said the 116th finished the required inspections Sept. 23, and any issues that were discovered were fixed.

Kaufman did not know what repairs were made on the planes, but told Air Force Times they were "relatively minor." An email to the 116th requesting information on what needed to be done to the planes has not yet been answered.

Pawlikowski said most of the problems discovered were Class C mishaps, which require $50,000 to $500,000 in repairs, or Class D mishaps, requiring $20,000 to $50,000 in repairs. However, there was at least one Class A mishap, requiring at least $2 million in repairs. Pawlikowski said the airplane with that problem "had some water in a place in the airplane it wasn't supposed to be there and it looked like somebody hadn't put some plugs in."

The Air Force has 16 operational JSTARS airplanes and one training platform, which are equipped with sophisticated radar and battle management systems.