Open Access. Powered by Scholars. Published by Universities.®
- Keyword
-
- Aircraft maintenance (6)
- Military aircraft (6)
- Military airplanes (6)
- Flight crews (4)
- Scheduling (4)
-
- Airplanes--Maintenance and repair (3)
- Airtankers (Military science) (3)
- Maintainability (Engineering) (3)
- Aircraft availability (2)
- Airlift operations (2)
- Airplanes--Air refueling (2)
- Airplanes--Maintenance and repair--Management (2)
- C-17 (Jet transport) (2)
- Combat readiness (2)
- Deployment (Strategy) (2)
- Discrete-event simulation (2)
- F-16 (Jet fighter plane) (2)
- Fuel efficiency (2)
- Logistics (2)
- Maintenance (2)
- Military airlift (2)
- Military aviation (2)
- Preventive maintenance (2)
- Queuing theory (2)
- Readiness (2)
- Repair (2)
- Reusable space vehicles (2)
- Rockwell B-1 (Bomber)--Maintenance and repair--Computer simulation (2)
- United States. Air Force--Equipment--Maintenance and repair (2)
- United States. Air Force--Inventory control--Evaluation (2)
Articles 1 - 30 of 106
Full-Text Articles in Engineering
Fast And Accurate 3d Object Reconstruction For Cargo Load Planning, Adam R. Nasi
Fast And Accurate 3d Object Reconstruction For Cargo Load Planning, Adam R. Nasi
Theses and Dissertations
Cargo load planning involves efficiently packing objects into aircraft subject to constraints such as space and weight distribution. Currently, this is performed manually by loadmasters. The United States Air Force is investigating ways to automate this process in order to improve airlift operational readiness while saving money. The first step in such a process would be generating 3D reconstructions of cargo objects to be used by a load planning algorithm. To that end, this thesis presents a novel method for fast, scaled, and accurate 3D reconstruction of cargo objects. This method can scan a 2.5m×3m×2m object in less than 10 …
Protection Of Linear Assets In Arctic Regions Using Basic Expeditionary Airfield Resources (Polaar Bear), Christopher P. Lintz
Protection Of Linear Assets In Arctic Regions Using Basic Expeditionary Airfield Resources (Polaar Bear), Christopher P. Lintz
Theses and Dissertations
In the 2018 United States National Defense Strategy, the Department of Defense mandated that forces are to be more dynamic and decentralized. The Arctic region was a key topic that was addressed. This means that in the future, it is possible that personnel will need to operate in the Arctic, away from the standard built up infrastructure, to enhance the capabilities of the Air Force and enable the power projection required for mission execution. When establishing a new location, water systems are one of the first requirements for setting up a temporary base infrastructure. However, the Air Force’s current expeditionary …
Investigating Supply Parts Delivery Delay From Supply Depot To King Khaled Air Base In Royal Saudi Air Force, Rashed S. Alkhathami
Investigating Supply Parts Delivery Delay From Supply Depot To King Khaled Air Base In Royal Saudi Air Force, Rashed S. Alkhathami
Theses and Dissertations
Aircraft supply parts is an important factor in preparing the aircraft to do its mission. Due to delayed delivery of parts or inefficient delivery process, time may be lost waiting for aircraft supply parts, causing mission delay or failure. By tackling the delivery delay causes we can insure improvement on delivery process. In order to gather data for this thesis two different tools were used, aircraft parts data and an interview. Data was gathered from the F15 maintenance and supply squadrons in the Royal Saudi Air Force. Results of this research showed diverting in the main duty of supply depot …
Optimal Scheduling Of Aircraft Test And Evaluation Fleets To Balance Availability For Testing And Training, Sarah E. Hoops
Optimal Scheduling Of Aircraft Test And Evaluation Fleets To Balance Availability For Testing And Training, Sarah E. Hoops
Theses and Dissertations
The 96th Test Wing at Eglin Air Force Base manually schedules a fleet of approximately 26 aircraft to conduct a range of missions over a one-to-two year planning period. This study automates the scheduling process, does so in a manner that optimizes multiple planning goals related to aircraft availability for training, and provides the 96th Test Wing with a software tool for the implementation that can be used by operational analysts within the command. We formulate the scheduling problem as a multiobjective, nonlinear, binary integer math program that seeks to maximize both the lowest percent of time any aircraft is …
A Simulation Modeling The Effects Of Maintenance Personnel On Aircraft Sortie Generation, Benjamin D. Huffman
A Simulation Modeling The Effects Of Maintenance Personnel On Aircraft Sortie Generation, Benjamin D. Huffman
Theses and Dissertations
Commanders and wargamers lack adequate tools to quickly determine the number of mission-capable (MC) aircraft and number of achievable sorties to support wargames and exercises. Even less understood is the impact of available maintenance personnel on sortie generation. The Expected-Number-of-In-Game-Mission-capable Aircraft (ENIGMA) simulation was recently developed to calculate the number of MC aircraft and number of sorties own accounting for the number and type of aircraft, scheduled sorties, mean-time-between-failure (MTBF), and mean-time-to-repair (MTTR). ENIGMA is extended by replacing the MTTR input with functions derived from actual numbers and types of maintenance personnel available. Functions in the form of response surface …
Resilient Maintenance Infrastructure: Dynamic Repair Network Designs To Effectively Manage Supply Chain Disruptions, David W. Wallace Iii
Resilient Maintenance Infrastructure: Dynamic Repair Network Designs To Effectively Manage Supply Chain Disruptions, David W. Wallace Iii
Theses and Dissertations
Supply chains are facing numerous changes contributing to their increase in complexity and vulnerability to disruptions. Subsequently, decision-makers lack a transparent, generalizable tool to quantify supply chain resilience and assess additional resilience investments. This research facilitates a more profound understanding of the intricacies and interrelation of supply chain nodes and constructs. It integrates the Area under the Curve (AUC) metric to quantify performance or any organizational measure of competitive advantage amid a disruption. Due to its structural resemblance to various organizational platforms, the subset United States Air Force (USAF) F-16 engine repair and supply network is modeled employing discrete-event simulation. …
The Effects Of Aircraft Use And Available Repar Spares On Aircraft Sortie Generaiton: A Long-Duration Logistical Wargaming Simulationtool, Nathaniel M. Choo
The Effects Of Aircraft Use And Available Repar Spares On Aircraft Sortie Generaiton: A Long-Duration Logistical Wargaming Simulationtool, Nathaniel M. Choo
Theses and Dissertations
A long-duration logistical wargame simulation tool that can provide quick insights into the daily aircraft availability and the daily number of missions accomplished for a variety of operational scenarios is developed. This simulation tool is designed to be a stepwise wargaming support tool for adjudication within long-duration logistical wargames and provides the user many capabilities including, but not limited to, the ability to have multiple bases and types of aircraft. Additionally, the user has the ability to control types of part failures, control parts availability, control maintenance capabilities, and control number of mission scheduled. Finally, the user can account for …
Investigation Of An Avionics Part Deficiencies In Royal Saudi Air Force Fleets, Nasser S. Alanazi
Investigation Of An Avionics Part Deficiencies In Royal Saudi Air Force Fleets, Nasser S. Alanazi
Theses and Dissertations
The Royal Saudi Air Force (RSAF) is experiencing a shortage in certain avionics parts due to a lack of reliability. This issue is causing a supply chain disturbance in the F1-15 fleet and the Hawk fleet. One of the factors behind this problem is the environmental effects in Saudi Arabia .The study will investigate and analyze the methods for the Improvement Cycle Processes and the Quality Management within the RSAF repair cycle. Finding show that, the discrepancies are rising during summer and fall time due to the environment change, Other finding were addressed in the study.
Sortie-Based Aircraft Component Demand Rate To Predict Requirements, Thomas R. O'Neal
Sortie-Based Aircraft Component Demand Rate To Predict Requirements, Thomas R. O'Neal
Theses and Dissertations
Weapon System Sustainment (WSS) costs are growing at an increasing rate despite the vast efforts to reduce them. Researchers have attributed much of the cost increase to inaccurate demand forecasts for weapon system spare parts. In 2011, the forecast to sustain all United States Air Force (USAF) aircraft was 19% accurate and WSS costs per year have continuously increased. The purpose of this study is to explore a parsimonious change to aircraft component forecasting to reduce costly forecast error. This study substitutes flying hours with sorties for the purpose of demand forecasting. Many F-16 and B-52 spare parts are evaluated …
Mc80: Quantifying Effect Of Fleet Health On Sortie Execution In F-16 Fleet, Kyle R. Gladney
Mc80: Quantifying Effect Of Fleet Health On Sortie Execution In F-16 Fleet, Kyle R. Gladney
Theses and Dissertations
By order of the Secretary of Defense, all of the US Air Force's F-16 units were tasked to improve their fleet health to a Mission Capability (MC) rate of 80 percent, as part of a Department of Defense-wide push to make its Critical Aviation Platforms, and the units that employ them, more ready and lethal. This study uses historical fleet health and sortie execution data captured from LIMS-EV (Weapon System Viewer, 2020) to create a multiple regression model that quantifies the value of increased fleet health, defined as either MC rate or Aircraft Availability (AA) rate, in terms of increasing …
Resilient Aircraft Sustainment: Quantifying Resilience Through Asset And Capacity Allocation, Zachary B. Shannon
Resilient Aircraft Sustainment: Quantifying Resilience Through Asset And Capacity Allocation, Zachary B. Shannon
Theses and Dissertations
Decision makers lack a clear, generalizable method to quantify how additional investment in inventory and capacity equates to additional levels of resilience. This research facilitates a deeper understanding of the intricacies and complex interconnectedness of organizational supply chains by monetarily quantifying changes in network resilience. The developed Area under the Curve metric (AUC) is used to quantify the level of demand that each asset allocation can meet during a disruptive event. Due to its applicability across multiple domains, the USAF F-16 repair network in the Pacific theater (PACAF) is modeled utilizing discrete event simulation and used as the illustrating example. …
The Effects Of Funding Gaps On Depot Maintenance Hours, Carlo S. D'Amato
The Effects Of Funding Gaps On Depot Maintenance Hours, Carlo S. D'Amato
Theses and Dissertations
The relationship between expenditures and readiness level is a topic of interest to military senior leaders, defense resource planners, and the American taxpayer alike. Senior leaders within the Air Force (AF) justify increased defense budgets by pointing to the potential adverse effects that decreased funding could have on military readiness. Resource planners within the AF are then tasked with the responsibility of ensuring that budgets are allocated most effectively to maximize the AF's ability to project airpower across a variety of contingency operations. This thesis investigates the relationship between budgets and readiness by examining the relationship between depot level funding …
Inherent Jeopardy Of Performance Based Contracting Metrics: A Simulation Experiment, Daniel Cherobini
Inherent Jeopardy Of Performance Based Contracting Metrics: A Simulation Experiment, Daniel Cherobini
Theses and Dissertations
There is a growing trend across the world to adopt Performance Based Contracting strategies to support logistics systems. Using these policies, contract payments are strongly related to the performance achieved compared to prespecified metrics. However, managers are not always confident on what are the most suitable performance goals to use in these agreements. As a consequence, contractors struggle to deliver the desired performance results, while aircraft fleets experience an increase in support costs. And when the results are inadequate, leaders are tempted to impose even more performance targets to contractors, willing to exercise more control over the support organization. In …
Predicting Upper Atmospheric Weather Conditions Utilizing Long-Short Term Memory Neural Networks For Aircraft Fuel Efficiency, Garrett A. Alarcon
Predicting Upper Atmospheric Weather Conditions Utilizing Long-Short Term Memory Neural Networks For Aircraft Fuel Efficiency, Garrett A. Alarcon
Theses and Dissertations
Aviation fuel is a major component of the Air Force (AF) budget, and vital for the core mission of the AF. This study investigated the viability of LSTMs to increase the accuracy of deterministic NWP models, while also investigating the ability to reduce model generation time. Increased forecast accuracy for wind speeds could be implemented into existing flight path models to further increase fuel efficiency, while reduced modeling times would allow flight planners to generate a flight plan in rapid response situations. The most viable model consisted of an ensemble of six LSTMs trained o six coordinates. The model's error …
Quantifying The Effects Of Aircraft Engine Upgrades On Operating And Support Costs, Bradford A. Myers
Quantifying The Effects Of Aircraft Engine Upgrades On Operating And Support Costs, Bradford A. Myers
Theses and Dissertations
As research into Operating and Support (O and S) costs matures, the focus can narrow. This research represents a first of its kind for the Air Force; it is an empirical study to analyze the effects of new engines on fuel efficiency and maintenance over those engines they replace. Within this research, new engines are those with distinct Type Series Modification (TMS) designators that appear within categories of Mission Designation System (MDS) aircraft. The only new engines appear on C-5s, C-130s, and C-135s. The inclusion of retired engines brings in two fighter aircraft, F-15s and F-16s. The data source is …
Hybrid Tri-Objective Optimization Of F-15 Fleet Modernization Scheduling, Richard S. Danaher
Hybrid Tri-Objective Optimization Of F-15 Fleet Modernization Scheduling, Richard S. Danaher
Theses and Dissertations
The F-15 weapons system is vital to the Air Forces efforts to obtain air supremacy during conflict. Originally produced almost 50 years ago, technological advancement through systems modifications is necessary to ensure the Eagles lethality and survivability against next-generation adversarial threats. The F-15 Systems Program Office faces challenges to plan aircraft inductions for five fleet modernization programs. Optimal induction schedules are developed using binary-integer linear programming models. Diverse constraints such as manpower, equipment, modification kit availability, minimum operational flight levels, and integration of scheduled depot maintenance reveal that no feasible schedule exists. Two competing objectives representing the value of fully …
Optimization Of Airfield Parking And Fuel Asset Dispersal To Maximize Survivability And Mission Capability Level, Ryley R. H. Paquette
Optimization Of Airfield Parking And Fuel Asset Dispersal To Maximize Survivability And Mission Capability Level, Ryley R. H. Paquette
Theses and Dissertations
While the US focus for the majority of the past two decades has been on combatting insurgency and promoting stability in Southwest Asia, strategic focus is beginning to shift toward concerns of conflict with a near-peer state. Such conflict brings with it the risk of ballistic missile attack on air bases. With 26 conflicts worldwide in the past 100 years including attacks on air bases, new doctrine and modeling capacity are needed to enable the Department of Defense to continue use of vulnerable bases during conflict involving ballistic missiles. Several models have been developed to date for Air Force strategic …
Exploratory Analysis Of The Potential Use Of Augmented Reality In Aircraft Maintenance, Richard B. Keesling
Exploratory Analysis Of The Potential Use Of Augmented Reality In Aircraft Maintenance, Richard B. Keesling
Theses and Dissertations
During the last decade manpower constraints and an aging fleet, along with sustained war time operating tempo, have combined to place a significant strain on the Air Force maintenance community. Recent technological advances have enabled Immersive Technology to be applied to industrial applications in the commercial sector. This has sparked interest within the Air Force and generated various initiatives seeking to enhance readiness through the application of Immersive Technology. This research explores how Immersive Technology can be applied within the maintenance community. Semi-structured interviews were conducted to determine where the maintenance community shortfalls exist, if the available technology has the …
Assessing Artificial Agent Response Time Effects On Human-Agent Teams In Variable Inter-Arrival Time Environments, David J. Canzonetta
Assessing Artificial Agent Response Time Effects On Human-Agent Teams In Variable Inter-Arrival Time Environments, David J. Canzonetta
Theses and Dissertations
Autonomous systems have gained an expanded presence within the Department of Defense (DoD). Furthermore, the DoD has clearly stated autonomous systems must extend the capabilities of their human operators. Thus, the exploration of strategies for effective pairing of humans and automation supports this vision. Previous research demonstrated that the time at which an automated agent assumes a task for its human teammate, or agent response time (ART), affects human-agent team performance, human engagement, and human workload. However, in this research environment, the time between subsequent tasks appearing to the human-agent team, or inter-arrival time (IAT), remained constant. Variable IAT environments …
Product Development Process For Small Unmanned Aerial Systems, Jonathan D. Poole
Product Development Process For Small Unmanned Aerial Systems, Jonathan D. Poole
Theses and Dissertations
The DoD has recognized the need for persistent Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance (ISR) over the last two decades. Recent developments with commercial drones have changed the market structure; there is now a thriving and extensive market base for drone based remote sensing. This research provides system engineering methods to support the DoD use of this burgeoning market to meet operational ISR needs. The three contributions of this research are: a process to support Small Unmanned Aerial Systems (SUAS) design, tools to support the design process, and tools to support risk assessment and reduction for both design and operations. The process …
United States Air Force Applications Of Unmanned Aerial Systems (Uas): A Delphi Study To Examine Current And Future Uas Autonomous Mission Capabilities, Alberto Sigala
Theses and Dissertations
As UAS technology continues to grow and enable increased autonomous capabilities, acquisition and operational decision makers must determine paths to pursue for existing and emerging mission areas. The DoD has published a number of 25-year unmanned systems integration roadmaps (USIR) to describe future capabilities and challenges. However, these roadmaps have lacked distinguishable stakeholder perspectives. Following the USIRs concept, this research focused on UAS autonomy through the lens of UAS subject matter experts (SMEs). We used the Delphi method with SMEs from USAF communities performing day-to-day operations, acquisitions, and research in UAS domains to forecast mission capabilities over the next 20 …
Evaluation Of Rsaf Airworthiness And Applicability, Majed M. Altowairqi
Evaluation Of Rsaf Airworthiness And Applicability, Majed M. Altowairqi
Theses and Dissertations
This research focuses on evaluation of Royal Saudi Air Force (RSAF) airworthiness processes and their applicability. The current RSAF airworthiness process is in accordance with internationally recognized best practice in the area of military aviation, this is achieved by benchmarking against European Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) and International Organization for Standardization (ISO) standards. Airworthiness policy for the RSAF is developed on the basis that it will be as civil as possible and as military as necessary. For the purpose of this research, the current RSAF airworthiness process will be benchmarked against the United States Air Force (USAF) airworthiness process. That …
Flightline Simulation Model Of A Squadron, Huseyin Mert
Flightline Simulation Model Of A Squadron, Huseyin Mert
Theses and Dissertations
Military flight training is a long and costly process. Ensuring that the training aircraft are ready for flight is critical in processing pilots through training courses on schedule. Maintaining a high mission capable rate for training aircraft requires scheduled periodic maintenance and maintenance between sorties. Aircraft Ground Equipment (AGE) is used to service each aircraft to make it ready for the following flight. Having a sufficient amount of AGE available is critical, as cancelling or delaying sorties due to lack of AGE generally has a significant impact on the training schedule. This work analyzes the AGE support equipment used in …
United States Air Force Applications Of Unmanned Aerial Systems: Modernizing Airfield Damage Assessment, Samuel M. Clark
United States Air Force Applications Of Unmanned Aerial Systems: Modernizing Airfield Damage Assessment, Samuel M. Clark
Theses and Dissertations
Modernizing airfield damage assessment has long been a priority mission at the Air Force Civil Engineer Center (AFCEC). Previously, AFCEC has made advances to expedite unexploded ordnance (UXO) neutralization and pavement repair. Missing from these initiatives is the initial assessment component. This thesis expands the idea of using Small Unmanned Aerial Systems (SUAS), applies it to the Air Force mission, and provides SUAS vehicle configuration and sensor recommendations. In this study, 25 civil engineer officers reviewed airfield imagery gathered using two small air vehicles. For the first review, participants attempted to identify UXOs and foreign object debris (FOD) in a …
Flightline Heroics And The Façade Of A Healthy Common Support Equipment Fleet, Benjamin D. Bobic
Flightline Heroics And The Façade Of A Healthy Common Support Equipment Fleet, Benjamin D. Bobic
Theses and Dissertations
Access to serviceable support equipment enables aircraft maintenance crews the ability to efficiently keep assigned aircraft safe and mission capable. Current Air Force policy does not require formal management and enterprise fleet health reporting of serialized support equipment. As such, articulating funding requirements to replace equipment has been a challenge for equipment managers. To better articulate support equipment requirements, equipment managers need quantifiable support equipment data. A previous study examined the relationship between aircraft availability and support equipment availability. While finding no significant correlation, the author identifies the practices of "Frankensteining" and "Beg-Borrow-Steal" as possible reasons for the absence of …
An Analysis Of Aircraft Operating And Support Cost Element Structures, Garrett B. O'Hanlon
An Analysis Of Aircraft Operating And Support Cost Element Structures, Garrett B. O'Hanlon
Theses and Dissertations
As the cost of DoD Weapon Systems continue to increase, the ability to more accurately predict the Operating and Support (O&S) costs for the various weapon systems has become more vital for long run affordability. The investigation into the O&S arena has been overshadowed by the research and development (R&D) and acquisition fields. This research focuses on the O&S portion of the total life cycle costs, specifically the OSD-CAPE Cost Element Structure (CES) elements and sub-elements. The research investigates seven categories of 52 aircrafts and their cost expenditures within the CES from the years 1996-2016. The first portion of the …
Common Support Equipment And Its Impact On Aircraft Availability, Jason M. Leighton
Common Support Equipment And Its Impact On Aircraft Availability, Jason M. Leighton
Theses and Dissertations
The ability of military aircraft maintenance personnel to prepare aircraft for flight depends not only on the technical ability and availability of replacement parts, but also on access to serviceable support equipment. While the general relationship between support equipment failures and aircraft availability is understood, the struggle to quantify that relationship makes targeted support equipment replacement or quantity authorization increases difficult. Tight budgets and aging equipment further complicate the task of keeping serviceable support equipment assets in the hands of maintainers. We identify key pieces of support equipment which may affect aircraft availability and other metrics and investigate the associated …
Simulation Of Aircraft Sortie Generation Under An Autonomic Logistics System, Gunduz Bingol
Simulation Of Aircraft Sortie Generation Under An Autonomic Logistics System, Gunduz Bingol
Theses and Dissertations
Parallel to the developments in diagnostic and prognostic technology, autonomic logistics systems (ALS) have been a potential improvement for the aircraft sortie generation process. Currently, Lockheed Martin and the Joint Program Office are developing a new autonomic logistics system for the multibillion F-35 Lightning Joint Strike Fighter project, which is named the Autonomic Logistics Information System (ALIS). Generally, researchers make an analogy between the ALS and the human bodys autonomic nervous system since both of them monitor, control, and adjust autonomic responses to external stimuli. Based on this perspective, ALS aims to switch the Air Force logistics mentality from a …
Applying Lean To The Ac-130 Maintenance Process For The Royal Saudi Air Force, Fisal A. Alzahrani
Applying Lean To The Ac-130 Maintenance Process For The Royal Saudi Air Force, Fisal A. Alzahrani
Theses and Dissertations
The ideas expressed in this research come from the researchers experiences working in the AC-130 maintenance squadron in the Royal Saudi Air Force. The AC-130 maintenance process is not currently being used as effectively as it could be to make AC-130 fully mission capable. That can be done by improving communication, reducing distances needed to move or transport anything during the maintenance process and by efficient use of the available qualified workforces, tools and equipment. Consideration is given to applying an existing management technique to the Royal Saudi Air Forces AC-130 Maintenance Squadrons. The selected technique is the Lean management …
Air Mobility Future: Evolving Command And Control Relationships In The Information Age, Ian M. Slazinik
Air Mobility Future: Evolving Command And Control Relationships In The Information Age, Ian M. Slazinik
Theses and Dissertations
This research paper analyzes information flow through theater Air Mobility Command and Control (C2) organizations. The purpose is to uncover guidelines going forward to adapt organizational structure and processes to increase the speed and reach of information. These guidelines could assist with improving organizational agility and decision making while adapting to future trends in the broader C2 enterprise. To collect data, the researcher conducted interviews with seventeen C2 experts with experience at various levels of C2, from worldwide to theater Air Mobility C2 organizations, from Air Mobility C2 leadership, to experts in non-mobility C2 divisions. Interview subjects shared their perceptions …