Sat, Dec 01, 2007
Bell Helicopter and the
US Army Aviation Applied Technology Directorate (AATD) have signed
an agreement to develop and mature state-of-the-art Condition Based
Maintenance (CBM) Technologies. Bell's winning proposal for this
three year program includes risk sharing partners Honeywell
International and Goodrich Corporation, in addition to a variety of
internationally recognized universities, small businesses, and
consultants.
The purpose of this 50/50 cost sharing agreement is to develop
and demonstrate an integrated set of diagnostic, prognostic and
system health assessment technologies to support Army Operations
Support and Sustainment Technology (OSST) objectives and enable
transition to a CBM based philosophy, "Bell understands Army
Aviation's desire to move towards a predictive and proactive
maintenance environment and is committed to getting these
technologies to the Warfighter as quickly as possible," states Mike
Blake, Bell's Executive Vice President of Customer Solutions, "The
infusion of these technologies will reduce the cost of operation
while making the aircraft safer for our soldiers."
Currently, aviation maintenance is generally performed on time
schedules based on operating hours or a set number of days. The
maintenance may or may not be necessary, which can result in
unnecessary replacement of parts and expenditure of man-hours. The
overarching goal of CBM is to set in place maintenance processes
and capabilities that improve operational availability and reduce
the overall maintenance burden.
One of the underlying objectives of Technology Investment
Agreements (TIAs) is to harness emerging, commercially available
technologies and transition them on to DoD weapons systems in a
rapid fashion,
"It is a privilege for Bell to be partnered with AATD on this
program" commented Elaine Vaught, Bell's Senior Vice President of
Engineering.
"Our objective is to work with AATD to develop robust
technologies that will not only be embedded in future aircraft
designs, but will also be retrofittable to the Army's fielded fleet
wherever possible."
More News
Scheduled for Friday, November 7th at 1800ET, The MOSAIC Town Hall, Webcast At www.airborne-live.net One of the more intriguing features of the 2025 Affordable Flying Expo, schedul>[...]
From 2023 (YouTube Edition): The Mosquito Evolves Formerly known as Mosquito, Trenton, Florida-based Composite FX is a designer and manufacturer of personal kit and factory-finishe>[...]
“The Board is pleased to name Lisa as our next CEO after conducting a comprehensive succession planning process and believes this transition will ensure continued success for>[...]
Ground Stop (GS) The GS is a process that requires aircraft that meet a specific criteria to remain on the ground. The criteria may be airport specific, airspace specific, or equip>[...]
The Airplane Stalled Above The Runway Threshold, The Nose Dropped, The Nose Wheel Impacted The Runway, And The Airplane Flipped Over Analysis: The pilot reported that during the fi>[...]
Affordable Flying Expo Announces Industry MOSAIC Town Hall
See All