Naval capabilities
Knowledge
aid to war-torn regions around the world, the $64,000 question is how Western navies measure up when it comes to combat readiness. The short answer – they could be readier.
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As the US Government Accountability Office (GAO) laid out in its December 2022 report, ‘Military Readiness: Actions Needed to Further Implement Predictive Maintenance on Weapon Systems’, the US Department of Defense (DoD) “is continually challenged to provide battle-ready ground combat systems, ships and submarines, and aircraft to its war
iven the deteriorating geopolitical climate, defence budgets coming under strain due to inflation and the ongoing supply of military
is power
Navies around the world are embracing new ways of harnessing technology to support platform readiness, such as using digital twins to manage predictive maintenance of vessels, thereby reducing the risk of delay in maintenance periods and maximising the effectiveness of maintenance planning. Martin Morris talks to Tiedo Tinga, professor of life-cycle management at the Netherlands Defence Academy and professor of dynamics-based maintenance at the University of Twente, and to a spokesperson for the French Fleet Support Service at the Marine Nationale, to fi nd out how such programmes are being put into practice and what benefi ts are being seen.
fighters, spending nearly $90bn each year on weapon systems maintenance”.
The US Navy serves as a case in point, with a 2018 report by the GAO – ‘Navy Readiness: Actions Needed to Address Costly Maintenance Delays Facing the Attack Submarine Fleet’ – demonstrating that between fiscal years 2008–2018, its fleet of attack submarines alone incurred 10,363 days of idle time and maintenance delays as a result of slowness getting into and out of shipyards. An extreme example was the USS Boise, a Los Angeles-class submarine, which was due to enter a shipyard for an extended maintenance period in 2013. Due to heavy shipyard workload, the sub saw its maintenance period considerably delayed.
Defence & Security Systems International /
www.defence-and-security.com
Brigitte Pica2/
Shutterstock.com
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