Challenging the Sacred Assumption: A Call for a Systemic Review of Army Aviation Maintenance

In 2016, the Army Chief of Staff directed the formation of the Holistic Aviation Assessment Task Force (HAATF) to review all aspects of Army Aviation. The HAATF followed the 2013 Aviation Restructuring Initiative (ARI) that sought to maximize and protect the aviation modernization budget. The HAATF focused on leadership, readiness, training, maintenance and sustainment policy, and resources, to ensure the Combat Aviation Brigades were capable of operating in complex environments around the globe. ARI and the HAATF were the latest in a series of comprehensive reviews of Army Aviation over the past 20 years. Typically, these reviews are initiated by a significant shift in Army budgets and are focused on force structure, training, equipping and sustainment. Each study intends to optimize the force structure to achieve a balance between the modernization and operational budgets. Since 1994, Army Aviation force structures, training resources, available equipment and aircraft have changed significantly. Yet, none of these studies has produced the long-term efficiencies or affordability promised. The reason for this failure is the one thing that has not changed; how the Army maintains its aircraft. \nThe research analyzed the cause of the Army's consistent failures by studying the four most recent studies. Through a simple review, it became clear that while the studies varied slightly their results were very similar. More importantly, no study pursued any systemic analysis of the larger maintenance system. To find new, innovative ways to solve Army Aviation's problems of affordability, the data suggests that the Army must finally consider a systemic analysis of the larger maintenance system. This systemic analysis requires the Army to first challenge its basic maintenance assumption that the maintenance process remains valid. By changing the way Army Aviation views its maintenance process, the enterprise can objectively evaluate the merits of a new approach. This new approach, as described in the HAATF, requires a philosophy of Reliability Centered Maintenance (RCM) and a methodology similar to the civilian industry best practice of Maintenance Steering Group-3 (MSG-3). Together, RCM and MSG-3 provide the best opportunity to significantly reduce Army Aviation's operational costs. Beginning this transition to RCM will enable Army Aviation to develop an affordable and sustainable Future Vertical Lift aircraft.