Land systems
MCoE’s pilot extends the intervals between scheduled maintenance tasks, and simplifies the maintenance process.
In practice, however, existing maintenance models place a significant burden on units, requiring considerable time and resources – which could be better spent on training and other operational tasks. Money is doubtless a factor here too. Considering $99.6bn (27.2%) of the US Army’s budget was allocated to operation and maintenance in 2023, freeing up any funds would obviously cover more urgent operation and repair costs – as well as bolster training and upskilling.
Training day 31,796
The number of hours available due to the MCoE’s pilot to simplify vehicle maintenance services.
MCoE 10
In response to these challenges, the US Army Armor School and the Maneuver Center of Excellence (MCoE) has launched the M1/M2 Service Optimization Pilot. Responsible for supporting the US Army and Training and Doctrine Command’s (TRADOC) missions and initiatives, this particular initiative is not revolutionary in concept – but nonetheless represents a significant shift towards more adaptable and efficient maintenance practices. Among other things, after all, the pilot extends the intervals between scheduled maintenance tasks, and simplifies the overall maintenance process. That, in turn, offers greater flexibility to the commanders that know their vehicles best.
The point of this gradual approach, at any rate, is to not abandon traditional maintenance practices. Rather, explains Corey Woods, deputy chief of staff at the US Maneuver Center of Excellence, the idea is to adjust them – and better fit modern operational realities. “The flexibility of the pilot programme has enabled the capture of more unscheduled maintenance needs on the M1/
M2 fleet,” Woods says, “which might have otherwise been overlooked during routine service.” For the M1 Abrams, the pilot extends the semi-annual service tasks to eight months and the annual tasks to 16 months, while keeping biennial tasks at 24 months. For the M2 Bradley, meanwhile, the pilot combines the semi-annual and annual service tasks into a single 12-month requirement. As Woods puts it: “To ensure the safety of soldiers during the extended service windows, the MCoE directed our maintenance activity to implement additional quality assurance and quality control (QA/QC) checks during vehicle dispatching.” For their part, these checks focus on critical systems like brakes, fuel leaks and fire suppression, even as passive thermal imaging systems are tested too.
Promising results
The early results of the M1/M2 Service Optimization Pilot have been promising. According to Woods, the pilot has led to a 5% increase in the availability of Abrams tanks and a 9% increase in Bradley Fighting Vehicles as of May 2024. Just as importantly, these improvements have been achieved without any significant increase in unscheduled maintenance, repair costs or safety incidents, suggesting that the extended maintenance intervals have not compromised vehicle reliability.
All told, the pilot has resulted in a reduction of 70 Abrams services and 122 Bradley services, freeing up over 31,000 labour hours that can now be redirected towards other tasks. It goes without saying, meanwhile, increased efficiency not only
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