May 9, 2022 —
Rear Adm. Chad Jacoby, director of acquisition programs and program executive officer, and Capt. Paul N. Brooks, commanding officer, cut the ribbon to signify the change of name and mission for the HC-27J Asset Project Office. U.S. Coast Guard photo.
The Coast Guard commemorated the name change and the expanded mission scope of the HC-27J Asset Project Office (APO) with a ribbon-cutting ceremony April 28 in Elizabeth City, North Carolina. Now called the Aviation Projects Acquisition Center (APAC), it will support acquisition activities for all Coast Guard aviation assets.
Rear Adm. Chad Jacoby, director of acquisition programs and program executive officer, and Capt. Paul N. Brooks, APAC commanding officer, gave remarks.
“APOs typically are individual commands set up for specific acquisition programs, such as deploying the C-27J,” Jacoby said. “According to the traditional model, these units would be … disestablished after the assets have been transitioned into sustainment. The problem with this model is we’re not always able to establish a new APO for every acquisition program.”
Six APOs have been commissioned over the last 40 years, with decommissioning occurring following the conclusion of acquisition activities. Over the course of these 40 years, however, 23 major aviation acquisition programs have been fielded without establishing APOs, which means the sustainment product lines at the Aviation Logistics Center (ALC) and operational commanders had to carry the burden of transitioning and deploying new assets. Creating APOs for each program also leads to the significant lack of knowledge-sharing of best practices and lessons learned. With the induction of the APAC, the Coast Guard will end the model of supporting integration and transitions off individual programs and move to a consistent, coordinated support structure that covers all aviation programs.
“The APAC will perform the technical management and tactical execution for aviation programs, taking that burden off program officers at headquarters while standardizing our processes across the entire portfolio,” Jacoby said. The APAC’s primary competency is change management. With its function as a performance accelerator, the APAC’s focus is on capability development, integrated logistics support development, test and evaluation and the execution of Procurement, Construction and Improvement funds.
“Most importantly, APAC will increase our service to Coast Guard operations,” Jacoby continued. “We have a lot of experience, know-how and creativity throughout the Coast Guard enterprise and within the aviation community especially. This new model will help us deploy those capabilities more efficiently and effectively in service of the operational community.”
Operational commanders will now have a single point of contact for all aviation acquisition programs similar to how ALC serves as the single point for sustainment. The APAC will also act as a liaison to build meaningful relationships with the ALC, Aviation Training Center and Aviation Technical Training Center. The goal is to assist in improving cross-domain projects, developmental efforts and capability delivery to the operational community.
The HC-27J APO was commissioned in June 2014 with the purpose of incorporating 14 C-27Js transferred from the U.S. Air Force into Coast Guard operations. In October 2017, the final aircraft was accepted, and in June 2018, the baseline aircraft sustainment of the C-27J was transferred from the APO to the ALC.
For more information: Medium Range Surveillance Aircraft page
Related: HC-27J APO Facebook Page