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Maintenance, Repair, and Overhaul

To keep military resources in satisfactory condition, maintenance, repair, and overhaul of equipment and facilities must be carefully managed. For decades, RAND has been conducting research and analysis that provides decisionmakers with broad perspectives and substantive recommendations on all aspects of defense logistics and support.

Report
Data Rights Relevant to Weapon Systems in Air Force Special Operations Command
The Air Force needs better access to contractors' technical data to sustain core military aircraft assets and subsystems. For this to happen, the U.S. government needs the appropriate license rights and actual possession of the data.
Sep 2, 2021
Report
Increasing Aircrew Flight Equipment Personnel Proficiency: Insights from Members of the Career Field
The Air Force Aircrew Flight Equipment (AFE) specialty plays a crucial role in ensuring the safety of airmen. The authors investigate causes for the decline in AFE proficiency and develop courses of action to mitigate the issue.
Mar 17, 2021
Report
Evaluating Alternative Maintenance Manpower Force Structure Concepts for the F-35A
The authors of this report evaluate the costs and benefits of maintenance manpower force structures in the U.S. Air Force that merge maintenance career fields in different ways, including alternatives that are being explored by the Air Force today.
Sep 3, 2020
Report
Naval Aviation Maintenance System: Analysis of Alternatives
The U.S. Navy's aviation maintenance capability suffers from supportability issues because of its antiquated software architecture and codebase. Would migrating to a commercial off-the-shelf solution help modernize the Navy's afloat and ashore maintenance capabilities?
Mar 9, 2020
Report
New Metrics and Visualizations to Help the Army Reduce Customer Wait Time
To help Army managers manage customer wait time, the authors developed several metrics and visualizations, including the rifle chart and a count of old orders, that use data available in the Army's logistics enterprise system.
Jan 13, 2020
Report
Improving DoD's Weapon System Support Program: A Critical Readiness Driver Approach
The readiness and sustainability of weapon systems is a key factor in defense. The Weapon System Support Program prioritizes system parts, but performance is lacking. RAND examines program effectiveness and gives recommendations for the future.
Aug 29, 2019
Report
Future collaboration opportunities for light and medium multirole helicopters in Europe
RAND Europe examined the scope for collaboration between European states in light and medium multirole helicopters throughout their life-cycle (incl. maintenance, procurement, upgrade and R&D), in support of the European Defence Agency (EDA).
Jul 19, 2019
Report
Development of Standardized and Best Practices for the USCG Boats Acquisition Program
This report contains a review of the U.S. Coast Guard (USCG) boats acquisition program and the programs of similar organizations inside and outside the USCG, possible funding and structural strategies, and recommendations for USCG leadership.
Jun 24, 2019
Report
Opportunities for European collaboration in armoured vehicles
RAND Europe examined the scope for collaboration between European states in armoured vehicles (tracked, wheeled and protected transport vehicles) throughout their life-cycle, in support of the European Defence Agency (EDA).
Jan 23, 2019
Report
Standoff Over Senkaku Islands Carries Growing Risk of Miscalculation
China has stepped up its vessel and air activities near the disputed Senkaku Islands. Japan has made posture changes and increased the quantity of aircraft and radar in the region, but it does not have the resources to match Chinese air activity. And since it's an issue of domestic air sovereignty, the U.S. is limited in what it can do to assist Japan.
Dec 3, 2018
Report
An Approach to Life-Cycle Management of Shipboard Equipment
The authors analyze trends in the life-cycle management of common shipboard equipment on U.S. Navy surface ships and recommend steps to improve the readiness of this equipment, increase its efficiency, and reduce sustainment costs.
Oct 1, 2018
Report
Expanding Operating and Support Cost Analysis for Major Programs During the DoD Acquisition Process: Legal Requirements, Current Practices, and Recommendations
The Office of Cost Assessment and Program Evaluation is required to perform a broad set of cost analysis duties related to major defense acquisition programs but does not always have the resources to fulfill its duties.
Sep 17, 2018
Report
Enhancing Air Force Materiel Command Support to the Warfighter
This analysis recommends ways the Air Force Materiel Command and its centers, specifically the Air Force Sustainment Center (AFSC) and the Air Force Installation and Mission Support Center (AFIMSC), can adapt and improve support to the warfighter.
Jun 7, 2018
Report
Increasing Cost-Effective Readiness for the U.S. Air Force by Reducing Supply Chain Variance: Technical Analysis of Flying Hour Program Variance
Seeking to reduce the $4 billion that it spends annually on spare parts, the Air Force asked RAND researchers to identify the causes and gauge the effects of flying hour variance (the difference between predicted and actual numbers of flying hours).
Apr 10, 2018
Report
Addressing Ballistic Glass Delamination in the Marine Corps Tactical Vehicle Fleet: Implications for Resourcing and Readiness
Delamination of ballistic glass impairs driver visibility and affects the readiness of Marine Corps tactical vehicles. To address this issue, RAND researchers estimate costs and vehicle availability under various repair and replacement scenarios.
Feb 27, 2018
Report
A Strategic Assessment of the Future of U.S. Navy Ship Maintenance: Challenges and Opportunities
This report assesses possible supply and demand capabilities in the ship maintenance workload for the U.S. Navy and notes long-term challenges facing mitigation efforts.
Sep 18, 2017
Report
Current and Future Challenges to Resourcing U.S. Navy Public Shipyards
To better understand recent trends at U.S. Navy public shipyards, RAND researchers explore how shipyard work is changing, whether more personnel are now required to perform it, and what risks shipyards may wish to address through additional hiring.
May 2, 2017
Report
Articulating the Effects of Infrastructure Resourcing on Air Force Missions: Competing Approaches to Inform the Planning, Programming, Budgeting, and Execution System
Describes and assesses the strengths and weaknesses of several analytic approaches for linking infrastructure resources to readiness and for articulating the effect of infrastructure underfunding in the Air Force Program Objective Memorandum process.
Apr 17, 2017
Report
Assessing the Training and Operational Proficiency of China's Aerospace Forces: Selections from the Inaugural Conference of the China Aerospace Studies Institute (CASI)
This volume contains revised versions of three presentations on Chinese aerospace training and operational competence issues from a June 2015 China Aerospace Studies Institute (CASI) conference.
Oct 20, 2016
Report
Applying Best Practices to Military Commercial-Derivative Aircraft Engine Sustainment: Assessment of Using Parts Manufacturer Approval (PMA) Parts and Designated Engineering Representative (DER) Repairs
Explores the potential for cost savings in the Department of Defense through the greater use of use of Federal Aviation Administration-certified parts and repairs provided by companies other than the original equipment manufacturer.
Sep 19, 2016

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RAND Topic:
Maintenance, Repair, and Overhaul

Topic Synonyms:
MRO

Research conducted by

Researcher Spotlight

Anna Jean Wirth

Associate Director, Resource Management Program, RAND Project AIR FORCE

Anna Jean Wirth (she/her) is the associate director of RAND Project AIR FORCE's Resource Management Program, and a senior operations researcher. Building upon a background in the sciences where her Ph.D. work helped bridge the gap between experimental protein folding and simulation, at RAND…
Marygail K. Brauner

Senior Operations Research Analyst

Marygail Brauner is a senior operations research analyst. She analyzes complex real-world problems, models them, and develops solutions. Recently, she helped designed a model to allocate ventilators and respiratory therapists so as to minimize patient wait time; identified how to manage the…

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