Examination of the U.S. Air Force's Aircraft Sustainment Needs in the Future and Its Strategy to Meet Those Needs (2011) / Chapter Skim
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6 Incorporating Sustainability into Future Designs
6 Incorporating Sustainability into Future Designs
Pages 170-192
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From page 170... ...
incorporating sustainability in the concept and initial planning, SDD, and deployment and support phases; (2) incorporating desirable design features and applying lessons learned during weapon system life-cycle phases; (3)
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From page 171... ...
Personal conversations with the committee, WR-ALC site visit, January 5-6, 2011. 7 Oklahoma City Air Logistics Center (OC-ALC)
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From page 172... ...
Second, the accompanying Air Force acquisition workforce reduction, which eroded the organic capabilities for acquisition management of development, logistics, and sustainment, created too much reliance on the contractor serving as the lead system integrator. 9 Peter Levine, Senate Armed Services Committee, General Counsel, Readiness and Management Support Subcommittee, Majority Lead; Lynn Williams, House Armed Services Committee, Readiness Subcommittee, Majority Lead; and Vickie Plunkett, House Armed Services Committee, Readiness Subcommittee, Minority Lead.
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, it appears that overreliance on industry in the development phases has left the Air Force unable to easily stand up capabilities for organic maintenance because it lacks the data rights, domain 11 DebraK. Tune, Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary of the Air Force for Installations, Environ ment and Logistics, Office of the Assistant Secretary of the Air Force for Installations, Environment and Logistics.
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From page 174... ...
knowledge, and access to the tools required to manage the process.13,14,15 Data rights, domain knowledge, and process management tools are addressed later in this chapter. The development of a weapon system is a complex undertaking that results in numerous technical and manufacturing risks that drive program level re-planning and decision making.
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From page 175... ...
The WSARA and the Air Force implementation planning should allow greater influence on the sustainment process. Having sustainment professionals play an active role in the support system concept development ensures that sustainment requirements are properly introduced prior to Milestone A of the weapon system program.
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Contractor sustainment activities should be devel oped and tracked as a contract line item separate from capability development. INCORPORATING DESIRABLE DESIGN FEATURES AND APPLYING LESSONS LEARNED DURING WEAPON SYSTEM LIFE-CYCLE PHASES Through telephone interviews with two senior engine company engineering executives 17 and visits with members of the ALCs, 18 the committee developed a list of desirable sustainment attributes (Box 6-1)
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8. Locate components requiring high levels of either scheduled or unscheduled maintenance where they can be easily accessed.
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It is important for the design, development, and manufacturing functions for future designs to incorporate the lessons learned from the experience with these systems. Considerations include design for simplicity and durability with an emphasis on seals, panels, and edges designed for supportability.
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The Air Force should establish an institutionalized process for collecting and consistently incorporating desirable design features or applying lessons learned from legacy programs into the requirements for new systems or systems being modified in the support phase of the life cycle and into the internal procedures involved in sustaining these systems. DATA RIGHTS/ACCESS AND THE AIR FORCE'S ABILITY TO GAIN WEAPON SYSTEM SUSTAINMENT DOMAIN KNOWLEDGE The importance of the Air Force acquiring adequate weapon system design data was stressed repeatedly to the committee.
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From page 180... ...
The Air Force should place more emphasis and imple ment additional training for acquisition professionals on the need for, the how to, and the pricing of proper data rights and domain knowledge related to the weapon system. CONSIDERING A BLENDED SUPPORT CONCEPT A blended support partnership between the Air Force and the contractor can provide an efficient support concept if instituted early in program planning.
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The data and enterprise management systems for future aircraft programs should consist of four fundamental elements: 1. The design and development of an effective maintenance program.
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The Data or Information Systems Needed to Develop the Maintenance Program Development of the maintenance program should begin with the design pro cess, well in advance of putting the equipment into operational status. The data are derived from the original engineering tests and analyses from the design phase of the aircraft, are based on Failure Mode Effect and Criticality Analysis (FMECA)
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With this information, all of the inputs can be analyzed and results looped back into the maintenance program to continuously improve effectiveness or optimize operational results. Some measure must be developed to determine how well the program works, how well the suppliers perform, and how well the workers achieve their goals.
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How ever, these systems have been developed as proprietary contractor systems with full contractor management and will not necessarily support future Air Force eLog21 and enterprise management concepts. Figure 6-3 shows the current proliferation of contractor-supported weapon system (CSWS)
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From page 185... ...
As a result, it is crucial that software sustainment planning be accomplished early in the weapon system development phase, and that software sustainment professionals be actively involved in the development process. Air Vehicles and Engines Chapter 5 includes examples of relevant sustainment technology areas for air vehicles and engines, including several areas for long-term research.
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THE UNIQUE SUSTAINMENT ASPECTS WITH RESPECT TO RAPIDLY FIELDED SYSTEMS Sustainability issues related to systems developed under advanced development projects (ADPs) are unique.
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From page 187... ...
These include tailored logistics health assessment criteria in up-front program planning, and approval and closer interaction with the Air Force acquisition offices to ensure contractual hooks are in place for procurement of repair data if the system is ultimately fielded. Although the Air Force is addressing sustainment policy in line with the DSB report recom mendations and current tailored sustainment planning processes, more actions are required to assure long-term sustainment of rapidly fielded platforms.
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From page 188... ...
The operational equivalent to sustainment in the commercial air transport in dustry leads to an airworthiness certification. The definition of, and final authority for airworthiness rests, by law, with the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA)
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Recommendations are submitted to the MRB as part of the certification process for the initial maintenance program for a new or variant of an existing aircraft type. The MSG-3 process continues throughout the life of the aircraft type and focuses on determination of hidden failures and the consequences of failure.
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From page 190... ...
The experience base from the most recently deployed systems contain ing special emphasis on LO features and significantly more use of software also pro vide a wealth of data for incorporating sustainment capabilities into future designs. During a discussion with two contractors, the committee learned that much of the activity that resulted in incorporating sustainment features into the systems was initiated by the contractor in one case and by detailed sustainment requirements from another service in the other.
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From page 191... ...
Many of the recommendations made throughout the report address specific areas of the Air Force sustainment enterprise, and these recommendations can produce a positive improvement in operational effective ness, cost efficiency, systems availability, and overall responsiveness. A true system of-systems approach, however, that prioritizes and balances the implementation of each of these recommendations will be required for the Air Force to achieve these goals.
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