Like many other nations today, the United States Air Force (USAF) is retaining their existing aircraft longer than planned. It is estimated that the current average age of aircraft in the USAF inventory today is 22 years old. By 2003, 75% of the USAF inventory will be over 20 years old. As the age of our fleet continues to rise, aircraft mission capable rates degrade and there is a potential for increased risk to safety of flight should the aircraft not be properly maintained. Maintenance data indicates that air vehicle subsystems are one of the largest contributors to aircraft downtime due to in-service failures. Fortunately aircraft typically are not lost due to the subsystem failures. However, if one is not careful, this aspect can tend to foster an attitude that we should accept these failure rates. What this approach fails to recognize is that we no longer have the budget or the number of available aircraft to support this level of maintenance. The purpose of this paper is to discuss aging aircraft concerns found in air vehicle subsystems and the approach that the USAF is using to alleviate these concerns.
USAF Strategy for Aging Aircraft Subsystem Research and Development
2003
7 pages
Report
No indication
English
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