French defence ministry strives to improve aircraft airworthiness and availability
Eurocopter has received a five-year, c319 million ($278 million) contract from French defence procurement agency DGA to repair equipment on military helicopters, as part of the French defence ministry's maintenance rationalisation efforts.
SIMMAD (Structure Int‚gr‚e de Maintenance des Mat‚riels A‚ronautiques de D‚fense) was launched to ensure that 75% of the defence ministry's 2,000 aircraft and 700 helicopters are fully operational by 2003. In 1999, when the initiative was launched, 50% of the fleet was not airworthy.
"Aircraft were often grounded because a small part was needed, but the red tape to procure a part meant that sometimes an aircraft could be grounded for almost two years," says Dominique Regnault, SIMMADfinancial manager.
SIMMAD is a joint-forces management tool, and each service remains responsible for its aircraft maintenance, "but SIMMAD ensures that the spare parts are in the right place at the right time", says Lt Col Vincent Carre, deputy director, Dassault Rafale section.
The aim is to have SIMMAD operational by early next year and achieve cost savings of 3% a year on the c1.2 billion maintenance costs, says SIMMAD charg‚ de mission Colonel Jean-Marc Savinaud.
"When we began we were 40,000 spare part orders behind," says Regnault. "That's two years' worth of orders, so one of our principal immediate objectives is to wipe the slate clean."
In its first year SIMMAD has improved training aircraft availability by 23%, by 15% for naval aircraft and by 8% for combat aircraft .
Plans include more long-term contracts with industry and extending SIMMADto weapons. Savinaud says: "There is still discussion as to which weapons. An air-to-air missile would be our responsibility, but what about an Exocet missile fired from an aircraft but then entering a marine environment?"
Source: Flight International
