STEWART PENNEY / YEOVIL
Aerosystems International (AeI) is poised to begin an operational trial with the US Army of its Advanced Maintenance Aid Chinook (AMAC). AMAC is intended to provided a closed loop maintenance management system for the Boeing CH-47 Chinook and will provide fleet management metrics similar to those used by airlines.
Yeovil, UK-based AeI has received four US Army contracts since 1999 for CH-47 maintenance systems and has begun training army personnel, says Richard Wilmot, technology director of AeI's US arm.
The trial is due to use 10 CH-47s from the Fort Campbell, Kentucky-based 7th Battalion, but the unit has been deployed to the Gulf with the rest of the 101st Airborne Division. At present, therefore, AeI is working with the army on the transition plan for the unit and to ensure that the helicopters can be accepted into the system once they return to Fort Campbell. The helicopters are expected to have flown significant hours, sustaining a lot of "wear and tear", says Wilmot. In future it is intended that CH-47 units will be deployed with the system, he adds.
AMAC is also being re-engineered using AeI's Sapphire maintenance management tool, which is used by the UK Royal Air Force and Royal Navy for their respective AgustaWestland Merlin helicopter fleets. An updated Sapphire version 2 - based on the Java programming language and with an improved interface - is due for delivery to the UK this year.
AeI also has US Army maintenance systems related contracts for the SIkorsky UH-60 Black Hawk and Boeing AH-64 Apache. The company is one of several bidding to provide the US Army with digital maintenance-management systems, which would cover the force's 4,000 helicopters. A decision is expected later this year.
Source: Flight International