Leading Australian Defence Prime, Australian Aerospace Limited, has successfully implemented an innovative aircraft servicing regime that effectively boosts the operational strength of the Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF) Air Lift Group’s fleet of C-130J transports by one additional aircraft a day – and at no extra cost to the Australian taxpayer.
Funded by Australian Aerospace and supported by Lockheed Martin Aeronautics, the new maintenance program was developed to improve maintenance effectiveness and efficiency, as well as reduce cost of ownership, all without compromising airworthiness. All aircraft are now transitioning to the new maintenance schedule with each C-130J due for maintenance every 38 weeks, instead of every 30 weeks.
The program has reduced aircraft scheduled servicing visits, decreased associated supply requirements and delivered an increase in aircraft availability, without negatively impacting airworthiness.
The prime beneficiary is the RAAF’s No. 37 Squadron, located at RAAF Richmond, NSW. With twelve C-130J aircraft, the Squadron has a high operational tempo and the primary, day-to-day focus is on ensuring aircraft availability.
Commenting on the achievement, Dr Jens Goennemann, CEO Australian Aerospace said: “This was a long, demanding and complex project involving Australian Aerospace engineering staff as well as external specialists and our industry partner Lockheed Martin. The outcome is of true benefit and underpins Australian Aerospace’s commitment to supporting our customer as a Defence Industry Prime.”
Engineering activities to support the project began in November 2011 and were concluded twelve months later, at a cost of $1.5M. The work focused on reviewing reliability data, improving the clarity of tasks and ensuring that safety and airworthiness were preserved. Strong focus was placed on the RAAF’s experience in operating the aircraft, rather than a general assessment of world-wide fleet data. Results to date show that the C-130Js can expect a reduction in scheduled maintenance by extending their scheduled maintenance intervals from 30 to 38 weeks for their remaining in-service life to 2030.
“Australian Aerospace is investigating other initiatives that will bring further benefits to Defence. The focus of all initiatives is to ‘reduce the cost of ownership’ to Defence – this may be in the form of financial savings, increased efficiency or reduced pressure on maintenance,” Dr. Goennemann added.
As active partners to the RAAF, Australian Aerospace, together with Lockheed Martin, have secured an extension to the C-130J rolling-wave contract, whilst at the same time, Defence and Industry successfully negotiated two-year reviews to the contract, rather than annual reviews.
About Australian Aerospace:
With more than 1200 staff in Australia and New Zealand, Australian Aerospace has access to the financial strength and expertise of Eurocopter and the EADS Group.
At its production facility on Brisbane Airport, Australian Aerospace is currently assembling and delivering 47 MRH90 multi-role helicopters for the Army and Navy and supporting 22 Tiger ARH armed reconnaissance helicopters for the Australian Army.
The company supports more than 500 Eurocopter helicopters in the Australia-Pacific region and is well positioned to deliver and support helicopters through a network of local facilities.
In addition to its helicopter capabilities, Australian Aerospace supports the Royal Australian Air Force's (RAAF) AP-3C Orion reconnaissance aircraft and C-130J Hercules transports.