This monograph describes a model for evaluating the combined capacity of organic (U.S. Air Force owned and operated) and contractor maintenance assets to meet aircraft programmed depot maintenance (PDM) workloads. The PDM Capacity Assessment Tool (PDMCAT) forecasts the average number of aircraft that will be in PDM status each year over several decades, based on the initial number of aircraft in PDM status, the physical capacity of the facility or facilities (number of docks available for conducting PDM work), the PDM induction policy (the period allowed between the completion of one PDM and the start of the next), and the minimum hands-on flow time (the minimum time it would take a facility to complete a PDM if only one aircraft were in PDM status). While not directly part of the model, the derived induction data can be used to estimate both near- and long-term obligation authority requirements for different induction policies, labor rates, and workload forecasts. To illustrate the model's operations and capabilities, we applied the model to evaluate the U.S. Air Force's current capacity for supporting KC-135 PDM and examined several options for improving both near- and long-term availability. In the process, we discovered that, while future annual fleet costs increase and availability decreases with age and workload, they do so rather less rapidly because the aircraft induction rates (the number of aircraft inducted each year) decrease as the PDM flow time increases. This leads to a less-drastic cost and availability forecast than usual.

VANGUARD is the Air National Guard (ANG) long-range transformation program. It calls for the ANG to evaluate new concepts, prepare for new missions, and adopt a new culture that capitalizes on ANG strengths and ensures that the ANG continues to add value as warfighters and to warfighters in the future while remaining ready, reliable and accessible. One way to support warfighting and warfighters is to continue to support the Air and Space Expeditionary Force (AEF), a concept developed by the Air Force to allow quick response, when appropriate, to national security interests with a tailored, sustainable force. The ANG already plays an important role in the AEF during wartime operations. This monograph evaluates options for Air National Guard combat support and reachback missions in four Air Force mission areas to support the AEF, investigates transformational opportunities for the ANG that would add the most value in achieving the desired operational effects, and considers how changes in unit and above-unit policies are likely to affect Total Force capabilities. It should be of interest to logisticians, operators, and mobility planners throughout the Department of Defense, especially those in the Air National Guard and active Air Force.

Describes a potential common operating system (COP) for the Air Force materiel sustainment system (MSS). The authors first develop a COP based on the principles of effects-based measures, schwerpunkt (organizational focus), decision rights, and a nonmarket economic framework, then they apply the COP to depot-level reparable component sustainment to illustrate how the COP would improve overall MSS efficiency and responsiveness.

This book gathers papers presented at the 36th conference and 30th Symposium of the International Committee on Aeronautical Fatigue and Structural integrity. Focusing on the main theme of “Structural Integrity in the Age of Additive Manufacturing”, the chapters cover different aspects concerning research, developments and challenges in this field, offering a timely reference guide to designers, regulators, manufacturer, and both researchers and professionals of the broad aerospace community.