What if you learned it takes nearly three hours to complete one F-16 armament scheduled functional check? Then what if you learned approximately 30,000 man hours are used to complete all F-16 armament schedule maintenance testing each year? Now what if I told you this could be slashed to just 7,000 hours annually, which is over a 75% man hour reduction?
Aircraft testing speed is more than just saving man hours; this time saved equals aircraft ready. With current fighter aircraft support equipment it is challenging on a good day to meet home station training requirements. What happens when units are tasked to complete near peer operations at rates which haven’t been seen in decades? The answer is that unit mission capable rates plummet, and the mission quickly becomes jeopardized, at which point additional resources must be diverted.
Speed is the key to overall mission success in any conflict, but paramount in near peer conflicts. A country can have the best, fastest, most technically advanced aircraft, but if the maintainers can’t completed the required maintenance tasks it won’t be in the fight to begin with. Getting an aircraft ready for combat needs to be efficient, with NO wasted time. Every man hour counts.
Capitalizing on modern technology, over 35 test and measurement channels, and using active testing methods, SmartCan™ now makes this possible. Munitions stations which currently take 30-40 mins to test, can be accomplished in roughly 5 mins with the same level of test being accomplished. Troubleshooting faults can now take minutes vs hours or days, ultimately allowing units to put more aircraft into the fight.