Fleet Readiness Center East (FRCE) has inducted its first C-130T Hercules for scheduled maintenance at its new depot at the North Carolina Global TransPark in Kinston, opening the first full-scale maintenance, repair and overhaul (MRO) cycle on the airframe since the Navy made FRCE its designated repair point for the C-130 fleet. The aircraft went from touchdown to the start of maintenance in three days.

The U.S. Navy announced the induction in a news release dated November 12, 2026, saying it brings the new facility another step closer to full operational capacity. The induction also starts full-scale planned maintenance intervals (PMIs) at Kinston, adding multi-month overhauls to the shorter depot inspections FRCE already performs on the type.

From 30-day inspections to multi-month overhauls

Before the Kinston line opened, FRCE personnel built their C-130 experience through minor depot inspections (MDIs), which the Navy describes as 30-day, targeted depot evolutions that handle structural repairs and corrosion beyond the scope of operational squadrons and intermediate-level maintainers. That MDI work continues at Marine Corps Air Station (MCAS) Cherry Point, and FRCE travel teams still deploy to flight lines around the world to provide depot-level service in the field.

Moving to multi-month, full-scale overhauls meant studying how other major depots manage the C-130 workload, and FRCE planners looked at established operations across the Air Force and commercial sectors, the release said. “Now, we have the opportunity to apply our own expertise and refine the process,” said Matt Sinsel, a C-130 branch head at the facility.

One step for this first aircraft still happened elsewhere. Chris Melton, a C-130 Kinston branch head, said the C-130T was cleaned and stripped at Tinker Air Force Base, Oklahoma, before it arrived in Kinston. Future C-130s will not need that offsite step once FRCE’s own paint and strip capability at the complex is operational, which the depot expects by early 2027.

The Navy describes the C-130T as a medium-sized tactical transport aircraft whose missions include tactical airlift, troop and cargo delivery, emergency evacuations and humanitarian relief. FRCE Commanding Officer Col. Christopher C. McDonald II said the induction represents more than the arrival of another aircraft:

“Establishing this heavy-aircraft maintenance capability required deliberate planning, disciplined execution and the collective efforts of an extraordinary workforce.”

How the Kinston depot came together

In March 2023, Navy officials announced that FRCE would become the designated repair point for Navy and Marine Corps C/KC-130J Super Hercules and C/KC-130T Hercules aircraft, according to a Naval Air Systems Command (NAVAIR) release from that time. The release said Naval and Marine Corps Reserve units fly the legacy C-130T for tactical passenger and cargo airlift and the KC-130T for tactical refueling and assault support. FRCE projected then that the C-130 work, once fully operational, would provide 250,000-plus labor hours, or roughly 200 full-time positions.

Finding room for the work took a new kind of agreement. The Navy signed a long-term lease for property at the Global TransPark with the state of North Carolina on April 15, 2026, according to a NAVAIR release published in May 2026, which called it the first partnership of its type in the Department of War. The release said the project began more than six years earlier to meet the need for an East Coast C-130 maintenance facility and a lack of adequate space for one.

In 2023, state lawmakers approved $350 million for site improvements at the Global TransPark to accommodate the FRCE facility. The lease, executed by Naval Facilities Engineering Systems Command (NAVFAC), was estimated to avoid $700 million in costs for the U.S. government and to cut the construction timeline by more than 50%, according to the May 2026 release. “We know that traditional military construction isn’t always the best solution,” NAVFAC Commander Rear Adm. Jeff Kilian said at the time.

Officials from the Department of War, the Department of the Navy and the state of North Carolina cut the ribbon on the complex on September 17. It was built to expand FRCE’s MRO capabilities for three platforms: the Navy C/KC-130T Hercules, the Marine Corps C/KC-130J Super Hercules and the Air Force HH-60W Jolly Green II. FRCE began scheduled depot maintenance on its first HH-60W there on September 21.

Capacity, demand and what comes next

According to the November 2026 release, the facility spans approximately 75 acres, covers more than 700,000 square feet and has direct taxiway access to the Global TransPark’s 11,500-foot runway, which the Navy describes as one of the longest civilian runways in Eastern North Carolina. The C-130 line is projected to generate more than 350,000 direct artisan labor hours by 2030.

Sinsel said the ramp-up has already drawn interest across the Navy, with several customers asking about sending additional aircraft to the site. He said meeting the initial short-term goals is only the first step, and that the larger aim is to secure two to three generations of steady, high-quality workload for Eastern North Carolina.

The C-130 workload has a long horizon. The 2023 NAVAIR release said Defense Department projections at the time planned to keep the C/KC-130J in service past 2050.

FRCE describes itself as North Carolina’s largest maintenance, repair, overhaul and technical services provider, with more than 3,800 civilian, military and contract workers and annual revenue above $868 million. The depot operates as part of the U.S. Navy, NAVAIR and Commander, Fleet Readiness Centers.

The Fraunhofer Institute for Laser Technology ILT is developing a laser-based process chain to restore worn high-strength landing gear components instead of replacing them, with landing gear manufacturer Liebherr-Aerospace as an industry partner. The project, called LEGATO, pairs extreme high-speed laser material deposition (EHLA) with roller burnishing in a single machine setup.

Fraunhofer ILT, based in Aachen, Germany, described the work in a press release dated November 12, 2026. The institute said that when too much material is lost from a landing gear component, replacement is often the only option, which raises costs, extends downtime and consumes resources. It also said further development and qualification are needed before the method becomes a standardized aerospace repair process.

Why landing gear parts are hard to repair

Landing gear is among the most heavily loaded parts of an aircraft, according to the institute. Wheel axles, pistons and pins carry large forces during takeoff, landing and taxiing, and friction and repeated loading cause wear, while moisture, chemicals, ice, sand and dust promote corrosion.

During maintenance, components are removed, cleaned, inspected and measured, and minor damage is ground away within repair limits. Hard chromium plating has traditionally protected these surfaces, but Fraunhofer ILT said stricter environmental and occupational safety rules are driving demand for alternatives. Conventional welding is only partly suitable, the release states: excess heat can alter the microstructure of high-strength aerospace steels, affect their properties and distort geometry. A repair therefore has to restore lost material precisely and form a reliable metallurgical bond with limited heat input.

How the EHLA and SCaRB process chain works

“Our research focuses on three steps,” said project manager Kim Julia Kallies. Those steps are restoring material locally, tailoring the mechanical properties of the surface layer and inspecting the coating reliably.

EHLA is a high-speed variant of laser metal deposition that melts metallic powder onto the surface. Fraunhofer ILT said its high speed and relatively low heat input make it promising for heat-sensitive, high-strength materials. The team has repaired 300M steel with matching material. For corrosion-resistant coatings, it is testing a martensitic stainless steel developed for EHLA and studying 15-5PH, a high-strength, corrosion-resistant steel used in landing gear structures.

Because EHLA runs at speeds closer to machining speeds, the institute can combine it with roller burnishing in one sequence, an approach it calls Simultaneous Coating and Roller Burnishing (SCaRB). A burnishing tool developed by Hegenscheidt-MFD and integrated into the machine turret follows the laser at a set distance. The component does not need to be re-clamped, which reduces setup time, and residual heat from deposition keeps the new layer deformable. “The key for us is to use the layer while it is still warm,” Kallies said.

The laser-to-roller distance affects surface characteristics, hardness and residual stresses. Burnishing force is set by feed rate, and interchangeable rollers select radius and hardness. According to the release, deposition can create tensile stresses that promote fatigue cracks, and burnishing can reduce those stresses or convert them to compressive stresses while smoothing the layer and increasing near-surface hardness. The next phase will study how SCaRB-introduced residual stresses affect service life.

Inspection and the industrial partners

The Fraunhofer Institute for Material and Beam Technology IWS contributes LAwave, a laser-induced surface acoustic wave spectroscopy method for non-destructive analysis of the near-surface properties of the coating and the underlying material. On its LAwave page, Fraunhofer IWS says a measurement takes less than one minute and that more than 35 stationary instruments are in use worldwide.

Liebherr-Aerospace contributes practical requirements on components, damage patterns, materials, hardness, surface quality and low heat input. “What matters is whether the process is suitable for real landing gear components under load,” said Harald Betsch, Senior Expert Thermal Spraying/Welding in Materials and Processes at Liebherr-Aerospace. Hegenscheidt-MFD, an associated partner, brings expertise in roller burnishing and deep rolling.

From coating process to landing gear repair

According to a Fraunhofer ILT brochure, EHLA was developed by Fraunhofer ILT and RWTH Aachen University and reaches feed rates of 50 to 500 meters per minute, against 0.5 to 2 meters per minute for conventional laser material deposition, with layers of 25 to 250 micrometers. The brochure says its thermal effect is in the micrometer range rather than millimeters, and describes it as the first economical alternative to hard chrome plating, which it says has required a special permit since September 2017.

The release links to a paper in the Journal of Laser Applications, published October 16, 2025, by authors from Fraunhofer ILT, Liebherr-Aerospace Lindenberg GmbH and Hegenscheidt-MFD GmbH. It reported that combining EHLA with simultaneous roller burnishing improved surface roughness, microhardness and residual stress distribution. Surface finish was best at a moderate offset of 4 mm, the highest hardness came at the smallest offset of 1 mm, and all burnishing strategies converted high subsurface tensile stresses into compressive stresses. The authors said further studies are needed to link these stress profiles to fatigue resistance under service-relevant loads.

On the regulatory side, the EU Chemicals Platform reports that the European Chemicals Agency’s (ECHA) Committee for Socio-Economic Analysis agreed a draft opinion on a proposed EU-wide restriction of thirteen hexavalent chromium compounds. It names aerospace among the industries most affected and says many of them rely on chromium-based electroplating, primers and anti-corrosion coatings.

What it means for landing gear maintenance, repair and overhaul

The research comes as Liebherr-Aerospace widens its landing gear maintenance, repair and overhaul (MRO) work. Liebherr-Aerospace Lindenberg GmbH developed, manufactured and certified the Airbus A350 nose landing gear. Liebherr announced on April 17, 2026, that it had started its first A350 nose landing gear overhaul at Lindenberg.

When Liebherr announced its A350 overhaul agreement with Finnair on May 22, 2026, covering a campaign that runs through 2034, Alex Vlielander, Chief Customer Officer at Liebherr-Aerospace & Transportation SAS, said, “The industry is moving now into the next global landing gear overhaul wave.” In September 2026, Liebherr agreed to run an exchange and overhaul program for China Airlines covering the nose landing gear of its 18 Airbus A350 aircraft through 2031.

The release gives no qualification timeline and names no aircraft program. The team is transferring its findings to real component geometries and representative loads. In the longer term, LEGATO aims for a fully integrated digital chain in one setup without re-clamping: automated scanning, calculation of damage and material loss, deposition tool-path planning, EHLA repair, SCaRB finishing, targeted polishing or grinding, and non-destructive inspection.

Fraunhofer ILT lists Formnext 2026 in Frankfurt am Main, November 17 to 20, 2026, alongside the release; it exhibits in Hall 11.0, booth D31.

Duncan Aviation has reopened its Engine Rapid Response Team (RRT) location at Centennial Airport (APA) in Englewood, Colorado, putting a dedicated engine technician back on a field where the company ran an RRT location from 1994 to 2021. The site covers all models of the Honeywell HTF7000 and TFE731 and the Pratt & Whitney PW300 and PW500 series, with line maintenance, scheduled minor inspections and Aircraft on Ground (AOG) dispatch.

The Lincoln, Nebraska, maintenance, repair and overhaul (MRO) provider announced the reopening in a press release dated November 10, 2026. The team sits next to Duncan Aviation’s existing Satellite shop at APA and serves business aircraft operators in the greater Denver area and surrounding regions, including Fort Collins and Broomfield.

What the Centennial engine team will handle

Engine Technician James Higgins is stationed at APA to oversee local support and regional dispatches. According to the company, he is backed by a fully equipped mobile unit, specialized tooling and dedicated local inventory. Duncan said the location lets operators get common engine maintenance and AOG support without moving their aircraft to a major maintenance facility.

The release lists the work by engine family. For the Honeywell HTF7000, it covers scheduled and unscheduled maintenance including bimodal repair, fan balancing, borescope inspections and Spectrometric Oil Analysis Program (SOAP) sampling for engines and auxiliary power units (APUs). For the Honeywell TFE731, the scope adds front-end work down to planetary access and repair, back-end access, interstage turbine temperature (ITT) harness troubleshooting and replacement, and accessory gearbox (AGB) work.

For the Pratt & Whitney PW300 and PW500 series, Duncan lists scheduled and unscheduled maintenance including hot section inspections (HSIs) on PW500 series engines, fan balancing, borescope inspections and SOAP sampling. The company said Higgins can work on PW300 series engines beyond the low-pressure turbine (LPT) section, is expanding his PW300 expertise and is scheduled for additional factory training. The release does not say when that training will take place.

“We are excited to re-establish our local Engine Rapid Response presence at Centennial Airport,” said Shane Heier, Engine Rapid Response Manager at Duncan Aviation. Heier said that with nearly 150 operators based at APA and steady demand for localized AOG support across Colorado, having a dedicated engine technician on the field allows the company to respond immediately when customers need it most.

The business jets behind the four engine families

Honeywell lists the Bombardier Challenger 300 and Challenger 350, the Citation Longitude, the Embraer Legacy 450/500, the Embraer Praetor 500/600 and the Gulfstream G280 among HTF7000 platforms. The manufacturer says the HTF7000 family has logged more than 12 million flight hours, with takeoff thrust listed at 6500-7500 lbf.

The TFE731, first certified in 1972, has been produced in twenty models with more than 13,000 units built, according to Honeywell, which names the Bombardier Learjet 70/75, Dassault Falcon 900 and Gulfstream 150 among its platforms. Honeywell’s specifications cite 108 million flight hours to date and 9,400 engines still in service.

Pratt & Whitney says its PW300 family, four engine series and 13 models rated from 4,700 to 8,000 pounds of thrust, powers the majority of mid-size jets. It describes the PW500, three series and eight models rated from 2,900 to 4,500 pounds of thrust, as the leading engine for fractional business aviation, built for light to mid-size business jets.

Duncan Aviation’s engine investments in its 70th year

Founded in 1956 as a single-hangar operation, Duncan Aviation is marking its 70th anniversary in 2026. It runs full-service facilities in Battle Creek, Michigan; Lincoln, Nebraska; and Provo, Utah, and the company says dozens of other regional facilities across the United States provide scheduled support and rapid response for avionics, engine and airframe AOG situations.

The Centennial reopening follows other Duncan engine investments in 2026. In a release dated April 7, 2026, Duncan said five engine technicians had completed four weeks of factory-led training on the PW308A and PW308C at its Pratt & Whitney Canada Designated Overhaul Facility (DOF) in Lincoln, a step covered in AirPro News’ report on its PW308 overhaul capabilities. The company said the PW308 is the largest engine its DOF currently supports, and that technicians at its Battle Creek and Provo MRO locations are line-authorized to support Pratt & Whitney engines.

On June 25, 2026, Duncan dedicated an expanded Turbine Engine Overhaul Shop at its Lincoln headquarters. The company described the facility as a long-term infrastructure investment to meet growing global demand, building on its status as a Pratt & Whitney Designated Overhaul Facility. “This facility represents a significant investment in our future,” Chairman Todd Duncan said. On the avionics side, the company announced in October 2026 that it had purchased Gogo Galileo HDX systems to meet customer demand and installation schedules, a move detailed in AirPro News’ report on its Gogo Galileo HDX order.

Centennial Airport and the Denver Satellite shop

Centennial Airport is owned and operated by the Arapahoe County Public Airport Authority and sits in the southeast metro Denver business district, 12 miles from downtown Denver. The airport describes itself as one of the world’s busiest general aviation airports, reporting 362,407 aircraft operations in 2023, and says approximately 850 aircraft are based there, including 180 jets. More than 125 businesses operate on the field, which is open 24/7/365 with 24/7 U.S. Customs services.

Duncan’s Denver Satellite at APA, at 12850 East Control Tower Road, provides avionics line services and avionics installations from 10,000 sq. ft. of hangar space, according to the company’s location page. Its line services include Reduced Vertical Separation Minimums (RVSM), Emergency Locator Transmitter (ELT) and full avionics inspections, as well as flight data recorder (FDR) downloads, and its technicians travel to all Denver metro airports and within a 200-mile radius.