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Articles 1 - 30 of 45
Full-Text Articles in Aviation
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 …
The Obstacles To The Modernization Of Common Support Equipment, J. Erik Ritschard
The Obstacles To The Modernization Of Common Support Equipment, J. Erik Ritschard
Theses and Dissertations
The current fleet of Common Support Equipment (CSE) is faced with a $2B funding disconnect that threatens 9 of the 12 USAF Core Functions. This research identifies the barriers to efforts to modernize CSE across the sustainment, acquisition, and maintenance communities. Using a qualitative, grounded theory methodology, the responses are explored of interviewed Support Equipment managers responsible for the sustainment and modernization of CSE. Significant barriers to current modernization efforts were exposed, resulting in expensive, duplicative, and unreliable equipment; concluding that the AF must change the way CSE is administrated, funded, and culturally understood to prevent future mission degradation.
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. …
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 …
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. …
Undergraduate Pilot Training Attrition: An Analysis Of Individual And Class Composition Component Factors, Christina M. Akers
Undergraduate Pilot Training Attrition: An Analysis Of Individual And Class Composition Component Factors, Christina M. Akers
Theses and Dissertations
The Air Force is working hard to reduce the shortage of nearly 2,000 pilots that threatens the Air Force’s core mission. Officials have focused on increasing retention and training throughput. Despite this, the first Pilot Training Next class graduated in August of 2018 with 13 of the initial 20 students (65.5% graduation rate). The purpose of this research is to explore attrition reduction by understanding how class composition of individual abilities and personalities affects the class graduation rate. Using AFOQT scores, SDI+ scores, PCSM scores, flight hours, and college GPAs, correlations were studied and a simple linear regression was run …
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 …
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 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 …
Service Improvement And Cost Reduction For Airlines: Optimal Policies For Managing Arrival And Departure Operations Under Uncertainty, Heng Chen
Doctoral Dissertations
Annual U.S. air travel demand has been growing steadily by 4-5% over the last decade, and it is estimated that the demand will nearly double in the next twenty years. It has also been estimated by the International Civil Aviation Organization that global demand for commercial aircraft will increase at an average annual rate of 4.1% by 2034 (IATA, 2014). However, airport expansions and aviation infrastructure upgrades have not kept pace with the increase in air traffic demand, as only 3% of all the new airport projects around the world are planned in the U.S. (CAPA, 2015). Thus, the operation …
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 …
Hazardous Material Cargo Frustration At Military Aerial Ports Of Embarkation, Niel E. Christensen
Hazardous Material Cargo Frustration At Military Aerial Ports Of Embarkation, Niel E. Christensen
Theses and Dissertations
Since military units often require critical hazardous materials in an expedited manner, identifying choke points within the supply chain is necessary to improve logistic support to front line forces. Hazardous materials are some of the most critical assets for the war fighter, as well as the most restrictive and often most time consuming for transportation. This research quantifies the extent that vendor and depot supplied cargo is being delayed at Aerial Ports of Embarkation. By looking at frustrated hazardous material at Charleston Air Force Base, South Carolina and Dover Air Force Base, Delaware, a case study methodology is used to …
Algebra Of Tankers, Margaret M. Romero
Algebra Of Tankers, Margaret M. Romero
Theses and Dissertations
The Air Force's aerial refueling tanker aircraft provide essential support for deployment and employment of combat and combat support aircraft, by extending their endurance and enhancing fighting efficiency. As the lead command for air refuelers, Air Mobility Command (AMC) must frequently examine the capability of current and proposed tanker fleets to meet mission requirements due to limited tanker resources. Analysts in AMC primarily use the Combined Mating and Ranging Plans System to provide actual tanker/receiver aircraft schedules and flight plans that take into account numerous system constraints. However, this tool can take weeks to run. Even recently developed quick look …
Improving Maintenance Data Collection Via Point-Of-Maintenance (Pomx) Implementation, William D. Cone
Improving Maintenance Data Collection Via Point-Of-Maintenance (Pomx) Implementation, William D. Cone
Theses and Dissertations
Maintenance data collection is an integral part of flightline aircraft maintenance. Historically, this data was input via traditional keyboard data entry methods at a computer terminal. These terminals are typically located in the aircraft maintenance unit (AMU) facility, away from where the actual maintenance is being performed. In contrast to the traditional approach, the Point-of-Maintenance system (POMX) seeks to reduce the data entry burden while increasing data accuracy through the use of E-Tools such as ruggedized laptop computers and handheld portable maintenance aids (PMAs). POMX enables data entry at the aircraft or other maintenance location via wireless local area network …
Hybrid Stochastic Models For Remaining Lifetime Prognosis, Steven M. Cox
Hybrid Stochastic Models For Remaining Lifetime Prognosis, Steven M. Cox
Theses and Dissertations
The United States Air Force is developing its next generation aircraft and is seeking to reduce the risk of catastrophic failures, maintenance activities, and the logistics footprint while improving its sortie generation rate through a process called autonomic logistics. Vital to the successful implementation of this process is remaining lifetime prognosis of critical aircraft components. Complicating this problem is the absence of failure time information; however, sensors located on the aircraft are providing degradation measures. This research has provided a method to address at least a portion of this problem by uniting analytical lifetime distribution models with environment and/or degradation …
Purchasing And Supply Chain Management Costing: An Air Transport Perspective Derived Through Commercial Air Cargo Firms, Kurt Ettrich
Purchasing And Supply Chain Management Costing: An Air Transport Perspective Derived Through Commercial Air Cargo Firms, Kurt Ettrich
Theses and Dissertations
The Air Force has struggled to completely understand the costs associated with its operations. The issue of understanding cost is complex, involving many perspectives, methods and techniques. When examined from a broad standpoint, total supply chain costs can include a firm's costs plus upstream and downstream costs. This perspective takes vendors, suppliers and end customers into consideration. From this broad standpoint, the Air Force does not know its total supply chain cost. Since the Air Force's supply chain is too broad to be a focus of this study, a smaller segment was chosen for a closer look. Specifically, air cargo …
Prepositioned Trailers For Aircraft Battle Damage Support, Scott M. Murray
Prepositioned Trailers For Aircraft Battle Damage Support, Scott M. Murray
Theses and Dissertations
Air superiority is essential in today's wartime environment. Aircraft that are damaged and not returned to combat can have a considerable impact on the quest for dominance in the air. To maintain operational effectiveness, an organization must have the capability to quickly repair damaged aircraft. The purpose of an Aircraft Battle Damage Repair (ABDR) program is to rapidly and effectively repair damaged aircraft to fly additional operational sorties and further contribute to wartime objectives. This capability must consist of providing the necessary tools and equipment for the rapid repair of aircraft. When an ABDR team deploys in support of an …
A Service Life Analysis Of Coast Guard C-130 Aircraft, Jonathan B. Duff
A Service Life Analysis Of Coast Guard C-130 Aircraft, Jonathan B. Duff
Theses and Dissertations
The U. S. Coast Guard, much like the rest of the Armed Services, is facing a dramatic transformation of its forces to meet current and future service requirements. The Coast Guard has responded to this transformation by initiating the Deepwater System, a complete review of the offshore mission requirements and the modernization of its infrastructure. In particular, Deepwater will review and modernize the Coast Guard's aviation assets, improving aircraft systems, airborne sensors, and communications and information management systems. However, these capability advancements will take time and money to implement, and will require careful management of the current resources to ensure …
A Simulation-Based Analysis Of The Impact Of In-Sourcing A Major Process Element On The Coast Guard Hh-601 Depot Maintenance Process, Steven E. Vigus
A Simulation-Based Analysis Of The Impact Of In-Sourcing A Major Process Element On The Coast Guard Hh-601 Depot Maintenance Process, Steven E. Vigus
Theses and Dissertations
Leaders at the United States Coast Guard's Aircraft Repair and Service Center (ARSC) in Elizabeth City, North Carolina recently formalized their planning and analysis functions by adding a dedicated branch to their command structure. The Planning and Analysis Branch intends to apply computer modeling and simulation to study the impact of process changes to the various Programmed Depot Maintenance (PDM) lines. This research considers the applicability of this type of modeling and simulation, using ARENA to study the current HH-6OJ PDM process. The contribution of this research is a methodology specific to ARSC needs, an analysis of methodology based on …
Use Of Critical Chain Scheduling To Increase Aircraft Availability, Daniel D. Mattioda
Use Of Critical Chain Scheduling To Increase Aircraft Availability, Daniel D. Mattioda
Theses and Dissertations
This study addresses the operation and support cost differences between the TUAF C-130E & C-130B, and the USAF C-130J aircraft. The TUAF C-130s have been being used for more than 30 years and changing world situations give armed forces different roles, and Turkey participates in all peacekeeping missions that are assigned by NATO (North Atlantic Treaty Organization) and the United Nations. While performing these roles, the importance of air mobility and the importance of reliability became widely appreciated. Moreover, the coming retiring age of the existing C-130s in the TUAF forced the TUAF to look for ways to improve its …
The Effect Of Improving The Logistics Pipeline On Supply Support Of Aerospace Expeditionary Forces, Steven L. Martinez
The Effect Of Improving The Logistics Pipeline On Supply Support Of Aerospace Expeditionary Forces, Steven L. Martinez
Theses and Dissertations
One of the biggest considerations for an Aerospace Expeditionary Force (AEF), in terms of cost and airlift requirement, is the use of aircraft spares kits to support combat operations. To date, these kits are built on the assumption that there would be no resupply for the first 30 days of a contingency. However, with more efficient transportation and information resources available today, it seems logical that resupply would occur much more quickly. If so, the Air Force should be able to trim its wartime stocks of aircraft spares. This thesis investigated the effect of improving the logistics pipeline on the …
Aircraft Maintenance Performance: The Effects Of The Functional Decentralization Of On-Equipment Maintenance, Mark A. Commenator
Aircraft Maintenance Performance: The Effects Of The Functional Decentralization Of On-Equipment Maintenance, Mark A. Commenator
Theses and Dissertations
The Air Force has implemented various aircraft maintenance organizational structures. The implementation of the Objective Wing in the early 1990s was the latest occurrence of reorganization. This research looks at the effect of the type of aircraft maintenance organizational structure on aircraft maintenance performance. The type of organizational structure was defined by the functional centralization of the on-equipment maintenance. Aircraft maintenance performance was measured using TNMCM rates, fix rates, repeat/recur rates, man-hours per flying hour, and scheduling effectiveness rates. Three F-15 wings and three F-16 wings were selected to compare the changes in aircraft maintenance performance and to determine if …
Requirements-Based Methodology For Determining Age Inventory Levels, James A. Mackenna
Requirements-Based Methodology For Determining Age Inventory Levels, James A. Mackenna
Theses and Dissertations
The purpose of this research was to illuminate crucial areas in analyzing AGE needs on an operational flightllne and assist in determination of AGE inventory levels. Further refinements could result in more objective and accurate assessments of actual flightline AGE needs and associated risks involved with reduction of AGE inventory levels. The research in this thesis consists of a discrete event simulation to determine desired AGE inventory level through an analysis of aircraft launches and wait time for AGE support by varying AGE (mean time between failure) MTBF and AGE inventory. Stochastic inputs for aircraft failures, AGE delivery times, and …
The Challenge Of Maintaining Or Replacing An Aging Airlift Fleet: A Cost/Capability Analysis For The Brazilian Air Force Mobility System, Julio C. Messias
The Challenge Of Maintaining Or Replacing An Aging Airlift Fleet: A Cost/Capability Analysis For The Brazilian Air Force Mobility System, Julio C. Messias
Theses and Dissertations
Despite the high Operational and Support costs incurred, the Brazilian Air Force's (BAF) declining budget has led to the establishment of conservative policies that favor short run solutions for a critical BAF airlift problem of operating an aging fleet. As a result of this policy, service life extensions of older airlift aircraft are the preferred solution. Using an equal airlift capacity approach to examine the Brazilian Air Force mobility system, this research performs a cost comparison analysis between two aircraft currently in operation at Brazilian's airlift command: C-130 Hercules and C-95 Bandeirante. To accomplish the cost analysis, this research develops …
An Examination Of The United States Air Service's Logistics Operations, Andrew W. Hunt
An Examination Of The United States Air Service's Logistics Operations, Andrew W. Hunt
Theses and Dissertations
This historical study details the U.S. Air Service's logistics operations at home and abroad in an attempt to determine the relationship between the process and more recently established logistic principles. The information in the study was collected through an extensive review of both first hand accounts and historical compilations of the nature of World War I aviation logistics. Information regarding the production of the De Haviland DH-4 and Liberty Engine serve as the primary case examples of the operation of the logistics system. The established principles required for comparison were extracted from the writings of a number of expert military …
The Scheduling Process In A Depot From The Brazilian Air Force, Fabricio J. Saito
The Scheduling Process In A Depot From The Brazilian Air Force, Fabricio J. Saito
Theses and Dissertations
The Brazilian Air Force (BAF) in its logistic structure contains 5 Air Logistic Centers (depots). This thesis concentrates its analysis on one of the most important BAF depots located at Sao Paulo (PAMASP). This thesis explores the scheduling process currently used in PAMASP. This thesis adopted a managerial approach in a sense that it looked to take a big picture of the current process. The researcher performed field interviews with the goal of describing the process. During the visit to PAMASP, the researcher also gathered problems related to the process. The recommendations stated on this study were based on the …
Aerospace Ground Equipment's Impact On Aircraft Availability And Deployment, Jeffrey D. Havlicek
Aerospace Ground Equipment's Impact On Aircraft Availability And Deployment, Jeffrey D. Havlicek
Theses and Dissertations
The first purpose of this thesis was to study the effects of four factors on aircraft availability: the aerospace ground equipment (AGE) design configuration, the mean time between failure (MTBF) of AGE, the mean time to repair (MTTR) AGE, and the travel time to transport the AGE around the flightline. A simulation developed by Carrico (1996) that has its foundation based on the Logistics Composite Model (LCOM) was used. ANOVA results indicated that the present estimates of these factors are too broad for trade studies that include an estimate of aircraft availability to begin. The time it takes AGE to …
Aerial Port Location Study, Levenchi L. Dingle
Aerial Port Location Study, Levenchi L. Dingle
Theses and Dissertations
This study performed an investigation on determining the appropriate number and locations of continental United States aerial ports. To accomplish this a linear programming formulation was adapted with the optimizing function based on trading off the cost of shipping cargo against port operating costs. Cargo would travel from CONUS origin, through aerial port of embarkation (APOE), to aerial port of debarkation (APOD) at minimum cost to the DoD. The need for the study was precipitated by continued reductions in the military budget, consolidation of defense depots, and the reduction in the number of personnel stationed overseas. Cargo movement data was …
Identification And Reduction Of Bottlenecks Concerning Micap Re-Supply Of F-16 Weapons System Avionics Line Replaceable Units, Karl N. Muno, Patrick K. Pezoulas
Identification And Reduction Of Bottlenecks Concerning Micap Re-Supply Of F-16 Weapons System Avionics Line Replaceable Units, Karl N. Muno, Patrick K. Pezoulas
Theses and Dissertations
This thesis evaluates selected F-16 avionics Line Replaceable Units (LRUs) transiting the logistics pipeline in order to examine the existence of bottlenecks and explore potential solutions within the current Department of Defense (DoD) logistics reparable pipeline. A previous study reported that a reduction in the overall pipeline resupply time of at least one day equates to a savings of approximately $25.45 million (Hill et al, 1990:iii). Bottlenecks cause movement delays to the entities moving through the logistics reparable pipeline. The pipeline segments are: AO (requisition), AE (item availability), AS (shipment status), and D6 (receipt). The bottlenecks of concern are those …