Aircraft Battle Damage Assessment and Repair (ABDAR). Volume 1: Executive Summary

Abstract

Abstract : This is the first of three volumes describing the results of a program to develop technology to enhance the Aircraft Battle Damage Assessment and Repair (ABDAR) process. This volume provides an executive summary and describes the overall program goals, the methodology used to develop the ABDAR technology and a demonstration system, and the results of a field test conducted to evaluate the effectiveness of the ABDAR technology and its benefits. The approach adopted was to develop an automated capability to provide aircraft battle damage assessors with technical data and assessment tools via a portable maintenance aid. A demonstration system was developed and used to evaluate the ABDAR concept. The ABDAR Demonstration System developed was an end-to-end system. It started with the aircraft debrief and continued through the ABDAR process to final documentation of the damage assessment on an Air Force Technical Order (AFTO) Form 97. The demonstration system provided the assessor with technical data for the testbed aircraft (F-15A), including applicable aircraft battle damage repair manuals and Technical Order (TO) 1-1H-39, Technical Manual General Aircraft Battle Damage Repair. The system supports two types of Electronic Technical Information (ETI). The first type of data, in the Indexed Portable Document Format (IPDF), presents technical data electronically in a format very similar to the paper TO. The second type of ETI, in the Content Data Model (CDM) format, provides technical data in an interactive mode. Sample technical data was developed in both formats. The field test results demonstrated that the use of the ABDAR system significantly improves the speed, accuracy and completeness of assessments.