{"id":62304,"date":"2018-11-20T21:05:23","date_gmt":"2018-11-20T21:05:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/uncategorized\/2018\/11\/20\/how-industry-government-can-partner-to-meet-the-pentagons-fighter-readiness-goal\/"},"modified":"2026-08-08T00:40:11","modified_gmt":"2026-08-08T00:40:11","slug":"how-industry-government-can-partner-to-meet-the-pentagons-fighter-readiness-goal","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/commentary\/2018\/11\/20\/how-industry-government-can-partner-to-meet-the-pentagons-fighter-readiness-goal\/","title":{"rendered":"How industry, government can partner to meet the Pentagon\u2019s fighter readiness goal"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Secretary of Defense James Mattis\u2019 directive to reach 80 percent mission-capable rates across all tactical fighter fleets represents a major challenge. It is one we at Lockheed Martin fully support and embrace. American fighter jets are delivering exceptional capability for our men and women in uniform today, and we must ensure they are always mission-ready when it matters most. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The new direction has already served as a catalyst for positive momentum and partnership across the Department of Defense toward achieving the goal. Sustainment is not rocket science, but it is extremely complex and challenging. It will take strong, productive government and industry collaboration to be successful. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

To achieve more readiness at less cost, sustainment must be enabled by high system reliability, predictive health monitoring, high-velocity supply chains, effective engineering support and condition-based maintenance approaches. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Innovative technology will help us get there. At Lockheed Martin, we are investing in advanced data analytics, robotic process automation, artificial intelligence and cognitive data fusion tools \u2014 and we\u2019re applying them across our entire portfolio to include the F-35, F-22, F-16, C-130J and more. We\u2019re starting to see these and other efforts paying off. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The F-35, for example,<\/a> is heading in the right direction. F-35 reliability continues to improve, and newer aircraft are now delivering between 60 and 70 percent mission-capable rates. Additionally, the operations and sustainment cost per tail per year is coming down.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We recognize there is more to do. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

We\u2019re partnering with the U.S. government to accelerate its organic depot repair capacity and reduce repair turnaround times. We\u2019re leveraging analytics to identify the parts and components we can enhance, recompete or second source to improve reliability, maintainability or supply chain capacity. We\u2019re collaborating with the F-35 Joint Program Office to accelerate modifications for earlier aircraft to bring them up to the excellent reliability standards of newer F-35s. We\u2019re integrating software suites to optimize spares levels and enable predictive analytics. And we\u2019re investing in the ALIS infrastructure to improve user experience, lower maintenance labor and dramatically improve speed. <\/p>\n\n\n\t