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23 Aug 18. Sustaining Maritime Assets through Fleet Life Cycle Management.
Promoted by BMT Defence & Security.
The Practice of Asset Management
Australia’s Asset Management Council defines asset management as: ‘life cycle management of physical assets to achieve the stated outputs of the enterprise’. Asset management examines each specific organisation and structures the approach to determine the appropriate mix of activities and artefacts, goals and objectives, practitioners and asset management system(s) to deliver optimum value across the enterprise. Asset management melds sound decision-making with high-level strategic goals by executing asset-related activities throughout the enterprise. It integrates asset-related decisions with organisational goals while optimising total asset costs through careful acquisition, sustainment and disposal activities across the life cycle, from short- and medium-term tactical operations to long-term strategic objectives.
Asset management has been officially recognised as a key enabler to Defence’s sustainment efforts; Capability and Acquisition Sustainment Group (CASG) policy mandates sustainment efforts align to ISO 55000/55001/55002, the internationally recognised standards for asset management. However, application of these standards to Australia’s most complex naval vessels must be carefully implemented. Asset management is a generic concept that can be applied across a wide-range of industries; its innumerable applications can be easily misinterpreted. In the context of complex naval vessels, it is important to clearly articulate and define the application within Defence.
The Challenge for Sustaining Maritime Assets
The Government has embarked on the largest fleet reconstitution since the 1940s through a national shipbuilding program. Australia’s national naval enterprise will build and deliver new surface ships and submarines while operating and maintaining the current fleet. As today’s fleet ages, sustainment will become more difficult. Upkeep needed to establish and maintain seaworthiness will increase while updates needed to improve reliability and maintainability will become more important. Capability upgrades will become vital to retaining regional superiority. Increased operational tempo in the maritime battlespace will drive operational commanders to demand greater availability and capability across the fleet. Reactive sustainment is extremly costly and will not deliver seaworthy ships to meet Defence’s needs. Ships in the nation’s naval fleet are considered complex because of their high criticality, high replacement costs, regulatory requirements and their significant value to the nation. Asset management is a valid and proven method for sustaining such complex assets. Repeated calls within Defence request government and commercial industry alike to collectively implement asset management as a method for optimising availability, capability and affordability across the collective Royal Australian Navy (RAN) fleet.
Asset Management Applied to the Australian Fleet
The Fleet Life Cycle Management (FLCM) concept applies asset management to the naval fleet. It is a proactive approach that applies proven asset management practices, principles and methodology to RAN ships and submarines to ensure material readiness, operational capability and seaworthiness can be achieved and maintained within allocated budgets. The RAN’s capability manager expects warships, submarines, support and auxiliary ships and fleet support craft to be sustained through appropriate maintenance regimes (i.e. upkeep), planned modernisation (i.e. updates and upgrades), Integrated Logistics Support (ILS) functions and supply chains without exceeding budgetary limits. FLCM develops the asset management methodology beyond the simplistic view of only management of assets, data collection or asset maintenance; it implements a more holistic and strategic life cycle perspective that addresses short-, medium- and long-term management issues across Australia’s National Naval Enterprise for government entities and commercial industry alike. It integrates Asset Management Systems, life cycle managers, and strategic objectives through artefacts and activities that bind critical framework elements into a single, cohesive and uniform method for managing current and future fleets (and the multitude of transitions between old and new mission systems). FLCM can provide a broad and responsive structure that supports current needs while retaining flexibility to meet future requirements and to support evolving Defence needs in the naval environment and maritime battlespace.
Since the federal government added Industry as the ninth Fundamental Input to Capability (FIC), major systems like surface ships, submarines and the support systems (e.g. training facilities, infrastructure etc) are now managed and maintained by a larger set of decision-makers.
A FLCM framework can unite these stakeholders across the three key domains – Operational Capability, Technical Compliance, and Business Intelligence – into a single, overarching and standardised functional architecture specifically tailored for Australia’s National Naval Enterprise. FLCM encompasses asset management activities carried out in perpetuity for each vessel, each class of vessels and the collective naval fleet. Applying FLCM across the RAN’s entire fleet can be done in phases, or by individual sustainment programs, or in parallel across multiple classes of ship using a single integrated strategic framework. Applying asset management through FLCM implementation will bolster Defence’s materiel sustainment methodology, ensuring Australia will maintain an enduring and lethal maritime capability throughout the 21stcentury.
Article written by; Toby Lemerande, Head of Discipline for Asset Management at BMT Defence and Security, Australia. Toby Lemerande attained the rank of Commander in the US Navy before retiring in 2015. Prior to joining BMT, Toby worked at ASC to develop and implement the Life Cycle Management office in the Collins Submarine Program. As a recognised expert in Asset Management, Toby holds the titles: Fellow (International Society of Engineering Asset Management), Adjunct Senior Research Fellow (University of South Australia) and Director (Asset Institute, South Australia Division).
BMT’s Fleet Life Cycle Management Course
BMT’s 5-day course, Introduction to Fleet Life Cycle Management, provides an overview of asset management applied to complex naval assets and focusses on fundamental concepts and understanding of requirements and complexities associated with managing naval assets across the life cycle, from design & production through in-service operations & maintenance and disposal.
BMT also runs courses on Whole Life Warship Capability Management and Submarine Design and Engineering. For more information contact: (Source: Defence Connect)
23 Aug 18. PAE Government Systems Inc., Arlington, Virginia, was awarded a $63,118,640 modification (P00007) to Foreign Military Sales (Afghanistan) contract W56HZV-17-C-0117 for national maintenance strategy – ground vehicle support. Work will be performed in Hkia, Afghanistan, with an estimated completion date of Aug. 30, 2022. Fiscal 2017 other procurement, Army funds in the amount of $63,118,640 were obligated at the time of the award. U.S. Army Contracting Command, Warren, Michigan, is the contracting activity.
20 Aug 18. BAE Systems Norfolk Ship Repair, Norfolk, Virginia, is awarded a $146,342,267 firm-fixed-price contract for the execution of USS Gettysburg (CG 64) fiscal 2018 modernization period availability. The purpose of this availability is a combination of maintenance, modernization and repair of USS Gettysburg. This is a “long-term” availability and was competed on a coast-wide (West coast) basis without limiting the place of performance to the vessel’s homeport. BAE will provide the facilities and human resources capable of completing, coordinating and integrating multiple areas of ship maintenance, repair and modernization. This contract includes options which, if exercised, would bring the cumulative value of this contract to $151,342,267. Work will be performed in Norfolk, Virginia, and is expected to be completed by March 2020. Fiscal 2018 operations and maintenance (Navy); and fiscal 2018 other procurement (Navy) funding in the amount of $146,342,267 will be obligated at time of award and will not expire at the end of the current fiscal year. This contract was competitively procured using full and open competition via the Federal Business Opportunities website, with one offer received in response to solicitation N00024-18-R-4439. The Naval Sea Systems Command, Washington, District of Columbia, is the contracting activity (N00024-18-C-4440).
17 Aug 18. The Boeing Co., St. Louis, Missouri, has been awarded a maximum $217,033,045 undefinitized contractual action delivery order (SPRPA1-18-F-0LB5) against a five-year base contract (SPRPA1-14-D-002U) with one five-year option period for F/A-18 aircraft spare parts. This was a sole-source acquisition using justification 10 U.S. Code 2304(c)(1), as stated in Federal Acquisition Regulation 6.302-1. Location of performance is Missouri, with a Dec. 30, 2022, performance completion date. Using military service is Navy. Type of appropriation is fiscal 2018 through fiscal 2023 Navy working capital funds. The contracting activity is the Defense Logistics Agency Aviation, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
17 Aug 18. Lockheed Martin Corp., Lockheed Martin Aeronautics Co., Fort Worth, Texas, is being awarded a $26,127,742 cost-plus-incentive-fee, cost-plus-fixed-fee order (N0001918F2038) against a previously issued basic ordering agreement (N00019-14-G-0020). This order provides for non-recurring engineering activities associated with the F-35 Autonomic Logistics Information System (ALIS) Security Architecture Phase III design, development, integration and test of the ALIS Sovereign Data Management (SDM) system in support of the Air Force, Marine Corps, Navy and F-35 international partners. This effort provides F-35 international partners the capability to review and block messages to prevent sovereign data loss. Additionally, the effort includes studies and recommendations to improve the security architecture of ALIS. Work will be performed in Fort Worth, Texas (53 percent); and Orlando, Florida (47 percent), and is expected to be completed in June 2020. Fiscal 2017 and 2018 research, development, test and evaluation (Air Force, Marine Corps and Navy); and international partner funds in the amount of $26,127,742 will be obligated at time of award, $6,912,067 of which will expire at the end of the fiscal year. This order combines purchases for the Air Force ($10,769,545; 41 percent); Marine Corps ($7,895,656; 30 percent); Navy ($1,988,809; 8 percent), and international partners ($5,473,732; 21 percent). The Naval Air Systems Command, Patuxent River, Maryland, is the contracting activity.
17 Aug 18. The US Navy’s fight to fix its worn-out Super Hornet fleet is making way. The U.S. Navy is slowly making progress to restore to fighting condition its hard-worn fleet of F/A-18 Super Hornet fighters, which last year had just one in three of its fighters ready to deploy. Today, almost half of the Navy’s 546 Super Hornets are considered “mission capable,” a sign that the readiness investments made in the Mattis era are beginning to bear fruit. In an Aug. 7 media roundtable, Navy Secretary Richard Spencer told reporters the Navy had been chipping away at long-term down aircraft that had been clogging the aviation maintenance depots. The Navy started 2018 with 241 fully mission capable aircraft, and that number is now at 270, he said. Spencer credited the budget increases from the last two years for the turn-around, but also attributed the success to finding new processes that save time. Specifically, he highlighted a program called the Depot Readiness Initiative. As part of that program, Spencer said, the Navy is letting the depots perform regular calendar maintenance as well as depot-level maintenance at the same time, a move that cuts out redundant work by performing scheduled and depot maintenance at the same time. In the roundtable, Spencer said he was stunned at how badly degraded readiness was in the service when he took over.
“I didn’t have a full appreciation for the size of the readiness hole, how deep it was, and how wide it was. my analogy is you have a thoroughbred horse in the stable that you’re running in a race every single day.
“You cannot do that. Something’s going to happen eventually. … If you look at where we are now, I can tell you we’re a more ready and lethal force today than we were last year.”
Digging out
The Navy has been deeply concerned about the level to which readiness has fallen among its Super Hornet fleet. In February, Vice Chief of Naval Operations Bill Moran took a trip down to Naval Air Station Oceana to see firsthand the issues at the depot. In an interview with Defense News, Moran said the problems stemmed from overuse as well as budget choices made during sequestration.
“We kind of lost our way a few years back when we were all doing everything we could to get airplanes and ships forward into the fight,” Moran said during the trip. “Then it went on and on and on, and I think that’s where the stress of not only the people and the equipment but also the processes started to break down.”
Getting money for spares to the fleet was going to make a difference, but said it would be hard to say when the investments would show significant results.
“I think for all of us it’s more up jets,” Moran said in a later interview. “We’ve got to have more up jets. One, two, 10, 100. That has to be the call to arms.”
Boeing, which manufactures the Super Hornets, has been a major beneficiary of the Navy’s fight to bring back readiness. In May, the Defense Logistics Agency awarded a five-year, $427m contract for Super Hornet parts and spares to begin working through a backlog of down jets. Boeing also recently inducted of the first Super Hornet into a service life extension program that will eventually see Boeing working on 40 to 50 F/A-18s per year in its facilities in St. Louis, Missouri, and San Antonio, Texas. That program will fix Hornets in the worst condition. The Navy is also adding new Super Hornets to the mix. The President’s 2019 budget request included 110 new Super Hornets planned across the five-year future-year defense plan. (Source: Defense News)
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About Oshkosh Defense
Oshkosh Defense is a leading provider of tactical wheeled vehicles and life cycle sustainment services. For decades Oshkosh has been mobilizing military and security forces around the globe by offering a full portfolio of heavy, medium, light and highly protected military vehicles to support our customers’ missions. In addition, Oshkosh offers advanced technologies and vehicle components such as TAK-4® independent suspension systems, TerraMax™ unmanned ground vehicle solutions, Command Zone™ integrated control and diagnostics system, and ProPulse® diesel electric and on-board vehicle power solutions, to provide our customers with a technical edge as they fulfill their missions. Every Oshkosh vehicle is backed by a team of defense industry experts and complete range of sustainment and training services to optimize fleet readiness and performance. Oshkosh Defense, LLC is an Oshkosh Corporation company [NYSE: OSK].
To learn more about Oshkosh Defense, please visit us at www.oshkoshdefense.com.
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