GAO Report – Military Aircraft Readiness
In an article entitled Aircraft Readiness Is Bad & Getting Worse: GAO, posted 20 November 2020, Breaking Defense spotlights a recent GAO analysis where “of the 46 types of aircraft surveyed—from the new F-35 to the aging JSTARS—not one met the Pentagon’s goal of being 80 percent ‘mission capable.’ Most of them, in fact, keep getting worse.” These results are disappointing. However, as is the case with any significant remediation effort, the GAO’s report on Aircraft Mission Capable Rates is the first step in developing a multidimensional solution set, of which Universal Synaptics plays a significant supporting role.
Read GAO-21-101SP Aircraft Mission Capable Rates for Selected Department of Defense Aircraft
SecDef Mattis’ Mission Capable 80% Directive
The GAO report references former Secretary of Defense James Mattis’ directive for Fighter aircraft within DoD to be Mission Capable 80% (MC80) by the end of FY19 (September 30, 2019). The GAO concludes that not only did “none of these aircraft achieve 80 percent mission capable goal, average mission capable rates for the selected Air Force, Navy, and Marine Corps aircraft have fallen since fiscal year 2011…” while costs for operations & maintenance and sustainment continue to rise.
After falling short of MC80, the United States Air Force on 7 May 2020 said, “Pentagon leadership decided not to renew the (MC80) effort in FY20,” according to Defense News. “The Office of the Secretary of Defense determined the FY19 80-percent MC Rate initiative is not an FY20 requirement,” wrote Air Force Gen. Charles Q. Brown. “Instead, the Air Force has returned to its usual practice of letting commanders set their own readiness objectives, with no definitive requirements for mission-capable rates,” he said. Perhaps the MC80 achievement goal was unrealistic or unreasonable without significant changes to maintenance processes or troubleshooting tools. Universal Synaptics will continue to play a vital role in getting technicians and artisans the technology they need to achieve MC80 and beyond.
F-35 and F/A-18 Readiness Issues
The Breaking Defense article continues by stating that the GAO targeted the F-35 as a significant readiness problem with a hefty price tag to taxpayers. What is also disappointing is that the GAO concludes the Navy F/A-18 E/F Super Hornet fighter as having similar problems to the F-35 and being Mission Capable in 0 out of 9 years between 2011 and 2019. This seemingly is in contradiction to the Navy’s announcement in September 2019 that they had succeeded in meeting the MC80 initiatives.
In an article entitled Navy Supper Hornets Hit Bug 80 Percent Readiness Goal, But Sustaining It Is Another Question, The Drive states, “U.S. Navy Vice Admiral DeWolfe Miller, Commander of the Naval Air Forces, the service’s top aviation officer, also known as the “Air Boss,” made the announcement on Sept. 24, 2019″ that its (the Navy) Super Hornets and Growlers both met the MC80 initiative.
Summary
Regardless of where the metrics truly lie, the F-35 and other weapon systems need increased component time-on-wing and innovative solutions for troubleshooting. GAO has highlighted the readiness issues plaguing the DoD Enterprise. The DoD and foreign partners need more from stakeholders charged to provide maintenance and readiness. The Warfighter and taxpayer deserve more readiness at less cost.
There is currently a major readiness gap in new and aging aircraft within the United States Department of Defense. Among the solution set must be innovative capabilities and tools that give maintainers the proven solutions they need to succeed and combat the No Fault Found phenomenon that is primarily driven by intermittent faults in weapon systems. The Office of the Secretary of Defense estimates a $3.0BB annual waste attributed to No Fault Found (NFF) / No Trouble Found (NTF) / Can Not Duplicate (CND) / No Evidence of Failure (NEOF) / A799 test results caused intermittent faults in aircraft avionics and systems, as well as their corresponding electronic interconnection wiring systems (EWIS). Universal Synaptics fields the only test equipment objectively proven to meet MIL-PRF-32516 and improve and keep readiness levels above 80 percent. Military readiness must and will improve.
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