Maximizing Operational Readiness in Military Aviation by Optimizing Flight and Maintenance Planning

M. Verhoeff, W.J.C. Verhagen, R. Curran
2015 Transportation Research Procedia  
The primary objective in military aviation is to optimize operational readiness: the capability to perform assigned flight missions. In terms of a flight planning process, operational readiness has three primary components: availability, serviceability and sustainability. Furthermore, it is influenced by aircraft downtime due to preventive maintenance at prescribed flight time interval. In practice, aircraft flight scheduling (including maintenance constraints) tends to be managed manually and
more » ... n a day-to-day basis, leading to a reactive approach to aircraft flight hour allocation in which problems with respect to availability, serviceability and sustainability can easily develop. Optimization models have been developed to address this issue, but none of them cover the full scope of operational readiness. This work introduces a flight and maintenance planning optimization model that simultaneously addresses the aspects of availability, serviceability and sustainability, leading to a pro-active, efficient and more robust scheduling effort. The proposed model is tested, verified and validated using Royal Netherlands Air Force data and infrastructure related to the CH47D Chinook helicopter fleet.
doi:10.1016/j.trpro.2015.09.048 fatcat:676dhw4ibvanhcttr4z6jzl7ua