Summary: This paper discusses the determination of the spare inventory level for a multiechelon repairable item inventory system, which has several bases and a central depot with emergency lateral transshipment capability. Previous research is extended by removing a restrictive assumption on the repair time distribution. A mathematical model that allows a general repair time distribution, as well as an algorithm to find a solution of the model, is developed. Thus, the main focus of this study is to improve the accuracy of previous models and to estimate the gain in accuracy from use of the current methodology. Computational experiments are performed to estimate the accuracy improvement and to determine the managerial implications of the results.