F-15 Readiness - The Maintainability Contribution

The F-15 Eagle is a blend of maintainability and capability that enjoys a high level of readiness. This paper addresses the F-15 Full Mission Capable (FMC) rates versus classic maintainability indicators such as Man Hour Per Flight Hour and Mean Time Between Maintenance and relates these to the low Not-Mission-Capable-Maintenance rate of the aircraft. A discussion of the F-15 Eagle's sortie generation capability during surge exercises and its relation ship to Maintainability, is presented. The availability of the Eagle has been among the highest of the Air Force Fighter fleet. This readiness meets the Tactical Air Command standard for FMC for the aircraft. The improving maintainability performance trend and declining maintenance impact on the FMC rate of the Eagle are indications of the enhanced maintainability of the aircraft and of the potential for higher Eagle FMC rates in the future. A comparison of spares to maintenance impact on availability, i.e., FMC, is presented. In addition to a discussion of peacetime availability, as evidenced by the FMC rates of the Eagle, a discussion of its wartime readiness is provided outlining how the Eagle Maintainability Program has permitted high demonstrated sortie rates during exercises. Simulation results are used to project potential wartime sortie generation factors for the aircraft, further relating Maintainability to readiness. Maintainability growth, i.e., improvement trend, is examined through review of the historical maintenance data of the Eagle from its initial evaluations to the current models. Maintainability improvement examples, such as Secondary Power, Built-In-Test, and the Over-load Warning System are addressed. The main tainability trends of future Eagle models are reviewed including repair time and frequency considerations. This paper closes with a summary of the key points made and draws conclusions as to the relationship of Maintainability to readiness.