Maintenance evaluation-a missing link?

Abstract

A discussion is presented of the maintainability/maintenance characteristics of a US Air Force electronic countermeasures (ECM) aircraft pod. The task was threefold: define and analyze the pod failure modes and their maintenance characteristics; determine the methodology and statistics associated with fault selection and recommend how many and which items/modes to fault; and provide a fault consequence analysis and develop fault simulation tools to force specific performance degradations for test purposes, without causing equipment damage or subjecting personnel to safety hazards. The methods used for each of these tasks are described, and the results are presented and assessed.<>