{"id":134880,"date":"2024-01-29T14:57:26","date_gmt":"2024-01-29T14:57:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/militarytimes\/uncategorized\/2024\/01\/29\/boeing-expands-drone-exams-to-lockheed-c-5-with-eye-on-broader-fleet\/"},"modified":"2026-08-08T18:50:46","modified_gmt":"2026-08-08T18:50:46","slug":"boeing-expands-drone-exams-to-lockheed-c-5-with-eye-on-broader-fleet","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/militarytimes\/news\/your-military\/2024\/01\/29\/boeing-expands-drone-exams-to-lockheed-c-5-with-eye-on-broader-fleet\/","title":{"rendered":"Boeing expands drone exams to Lockheed C-5 with eye on broader fleet"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

DOVER AIR FORCE BASE, Del. \u2014 The hangar was relatively empty. Not even the Lockheed Martin C-5, some 250 feet long and 65 feet high, filled the space outright.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

No maintainers milled about, no drills whirred and no hammers clanged. But the steady hum of spinning blades echoed through the chamber at Dover Air Force Base<\/a> in Delaware, as a drone autonomously maneuvered around the transport aircraft.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Its movement, aided by digital models and crash-avoidance capabilities, was punctuated by occasional hovering as it stabilized to capture with a high-resolution camera photos of the plane\u2019s exterior. The images then flashed onto a nearby display, with potential issues organized for expert review.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThis is what young technicians live in the Department of Defense, the Navy<\/a>, the Army, the Air Force, the Marine Corps, whoever it may be,\u201d Scott Belanger, a Boeing executive, told reporters gathered at the base Jan. 23. \u201cThis is their environment, where they are charged with generating aircraft, like the C-5 here, that are old and hard to keep on the flight line.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n

<\/atype-video-jwplayer>
The Air Force tests out new tech to scan aircraft for potential damage and wear and tear. Can drones do the job better than humans?<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n

Last week marked the first time Boeing and small-business partner Near Earth Autonomy cataloged a C-5 for their Autonomous Aircraft Inspection project. By feeding photos snapped by an unmanned aerial system through automated damage-detecting software and then uploading the results into a secure database accessible across the world, the two companies hope to slash the time it takes to evaluate and repair aircraft, ultimately boosting Air Force readiness.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

While Boeing and Near Earth Autonomy<\/a> have worked together for months previously, assessing and digitally archiving the status of Boeing C-17 cargo planes at Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam in Hawaii, the work on the East Coast marks \u201ca big moment\u201d for the AAI initiative, according to Belanger.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Not only did it push Boeing outside its own portfolio \u2014 handling an aircraft made by competitor Lockheed \u2014 but the work itself was executed in conditions unlike Hawaii.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cYou just can\u2019t do this stuff in a simulated environment<\/a>. You\u2019ve got to have an airplane, got to have a hanger, \u2026 got to get a little bit dirty and dive in to effectively do this,\u201d Belanger said. \u201cThere are very few hangers in the United States where you can park a C-5 inside. There just aren\u2019t many of these.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Dover Air Force Base is home to both C-17 and C-5 aircraft. Traditional inspections relying on trained crews can take hours, with harnessing and clambering required. (A ladder in the tail of a C-5 brings airmen to a six-story perch.) The 34-point review conducted Jan. 23 via drone took roughly 10 minutes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"A
A Lockheed Martin C-5 undergoes inspection, via drone, at a Dover Air Force Base hangar Jan. 23, 2024. (Colin Demarest\/C4ISRNET)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Looking ahead<\/h1>\n\n\n\n

As the Defense Department prepares for potential fights in the Indo-Pacific<\/a> and Europe, the Air Force is pursuing what\u2019s known as Agile Combat Employment. The ACE concept envisions a hub-and-spoke layout of bases \u2014 some larger and fixed, some smaller and mobile \u2014 that will scatter supplies, manpower and knowhow.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Only two people are needed to run the Automated Aircraft Inspection, and training takes a few hours. The process helps overcome the tedium associated with conventional assay, according to Ken Jones, an Air Force maintenance official.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThis is best, because what we have to do with our system is actually go out and then review the imagery and look for things,\u201d he told reporters. \u201cTheir artificial intelligence<\/a> is drawing little boxes around the things that the computer thinks, \u2018This isn\u2019t what it\u2019s supposed to be.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The drone-and-software combo deployed at Dover Air Force Base discovered missing paint, chips and other possible irregularities. Reporters observed the review process, in which experts quickly sorted the images and flagged what needed fixing.<\/p>\n\n\n\t