Marine Corps Systems Command recently teamed up with I Marine Expeditionary Force, the U.S. Air Force’s 22nd Airlift Squadron, and industry on a job requiring some heavy lifting: transporting two MAC-50 All-Terrain Cranes cross-country from California to Mississippi and back.
The joint collaborative effort in late October—which aligns with the Defense Department’s vision of building a resilient joint force and defense ecosystem—ended up saving the Corps valuable time and money, on top of the cost avoidance realized by the Corps’ MAC-50 service life extension program.
Because purchasing and fielding brand-new heavy equipment for Marines can be costly, the Marine Corps uses service life extension programs when economically feasible to prolong the lifespan of certain legacy vehicles and systems. Service Life Extension Programs—or SLEPs—are designed to return a vehicle or system to “like-new” condition in order to prolong the system’s lifespan. The MAC-50 All-Terrain Crane is one such system.