Amplification of the Benefits of a Reliable and Maintainable Design by Adequate Maintenance and Support Concepts

Abstract

A reliable and maintainable design has obvious benefits with respect to Life Cycle Cost However, in order to make fell use of these design features, adequate alternative maintenance & support concepts - which are only viable in case of excellent Reliability and Maintainability of the Weapon System - must be considered. The traditional 4-level maintenance concept does not saflsf' the requirement for low Life Cycle Cost if a Weapon System featuring a reliable and maintainable design is to be supported. This requirement is flilfilled if the more advanced 2-level maintenance concept which is characterised by the limitation of base level maintenance to on A/C tasks and transfer of the remaining activities to a single source supplier, i.e. industry. In order to make the 2-level maintenance concept a viable solution, aircraft availability and Airforce self-sufficiency need special attention but can be ensured via an adequate support concept and integration of military personnel in industry maintenance. The 2-level maintenance concept was analysed for the Eurofighter/Typhoon to be operated by the German Airforce. A thorough comparison with traditional maintenance concepts revealed that the 2-level maintenance concept is much more cost-effective, therefore this advanced concept is now applied by the German Airforce.

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Document Details

Document Type
Technical Report
Publication Date
Sep 01, 2000
Accession Number
ADP010428

Entities

People

  • Detlef Reiss

Tags

Communities of Interest

  • Air Platforms
  • Materials and Manufacturing Processes
  • Weapons Technologies

DTIC Thesaurus Topics

  • Acquisition
  • Aerospace Industry
  • Aircrafts
  • Airframes
  • Costs
  • Investments
  • Life Cycle Costs
  • Life Cycles
  • Maintainability
  • Maintenance
  • Military Facilities
  • Military Personnel
  • Procurement
  • Production
  • Reliability
  • Test Equipment
  • Weapon Systems

Fields of Study

  • Engineering

Readers

  • European Security and Defence Policy (ESDP).
  • Software Engineering
  • Systems Analysis and Design