F-22 Force Management lessons learned the first five years

F-22 Program Office
Dominant Air Power: Design for Tomorrow…Deliver Today
F-22 Force Management

Lessons Learned: The
First Five Years
John McClure ASC/WWUE
Suresh Patel Lockheed Martin
Aeronautics Company
Christopher Black Lockheed
Martin Aeronautics Company
Robert Bair ASC/WWUE
1
F-22 Lessons Learned
Dominant Air Power: Design for Tomorrow…Deliver Today F-22 Raptor
• World’s most dominant and complex fighter

– Also very expensive
• Crucial to correctly manage to optimize life
• Lessons we have learned in key areas to
properly sustain and optimize fleet life:
– Fleet Usage
– Nondestructive Inspections (NDI)
– Data Capture
2
Usage Summary
• NzW = Vertical Acceleration * Gross Weight

• High NzW  high loads on wing, fuselage
• High NzW causes higher AOA increasing
airframe buffet
– Drives more fatigue on rudder and vertical tail
• Equivalent Flight Hours (EFH)
– Compared to actual flight hours (AFH) to calculate
usage severity
– EFH / AFH = Severity
– Severity > 1  More Severe
– Severity < 1  Less Severe
3
Usage Summary
• Fatigue damage at primary tracking point

– Lower wing attachment lug
– Severity primarily driven by wing and fuselage
loads
• Driven by Nz, GW and speed
4
Training Fleet Usage
• Training fleet is used more

severely than the rest of the fleet
– More air-to-air usage
• Cannot be simulated in flight simulator
• G-awareness maneuvers required
– High Nz at high gross weights
• Higher NzW usage
– Large number of high Nz
maneuvers
5
Fluctuation in Training Fleet Severity
6
1400
More
1200 Severe
vs. Baseline vs. Fleet Avg.
Training 1.17 1.28
Equivalent Flight Hours
1000
Non-Training 0.84 0.92
Fleet 0.91 1.00
800
600
Less
400 Severe
200 Training
Non-Training
0
0 200 400 600 800 1000 1200 1400
Actual Flight Hours

7
• Common trend among Air Force systems
• F-22 initially hoped to rotate tail numbers
• Very tough to rotate out of the training fleet

– Different software
– Bases are reluctant to give up a “good” jet for a
“bad” jet
– Bases typically want to keep the jets they have
8
Training Usage Effects
• Training fleet will retire sooner than rest of

fleet
• F-22 creates a baseline usage spectrum every
5 years
– Average fleet usage spectrum
– Used in Force Structures Maintenance Plan (FSMP)
– Estimates future inspections
– NDI and structural mods planned around
“predicted” use
– Not severe enough for training fleet
– Too severe for the rest of the fleet
9
Training Fleet Lessons Learned
• Since training fleet is used severely, create two

different baseline spectra
– More accurately captures fleet usage
– Better estimate of NDI and structural mods
• Don’t expect to rotate jets out of training base
– F-22 rarely rotates non-training jets
– Typically does not rotate training jets
• Reduce high NzW maneuvers
– Remove non-essential stores/AVELs
– Plan most aggressive maneuvers for later in flight (less
weight)
– Limit g-awareness to minimum required (4g and 7g)
– Fly g-awareness and ATA at higher altitudes when permitted
10
Base Airspace and Syllabus Effects
• Tight airspace at the end of the runway

– Fully fueled jet has to turn right away
– High NzW
• Distance to range
– High Nz maneuvers performed at the range
– Close range leads to high NzW
– Distant range leads to lower NzW
• Understand syllabus driven effects
– G-awareness maneuvers
• High NzW right away
11
Airspace and Syllabus Lessons Learned
• Important to interact with Ops

– Understand syllabus
• Unique missions?
– Minimize NzW and therefore usage severity
• Understand the airspace

– Distance to range
– Unique factors that cause severe usage?
12
NDI - EMD Closure
• Nondestructive Inspections (NDI)

– Required to reliably detect cracks that may have
grown from assumed initial flaw sizes
• Engineering Manufacturing and Development
(EMD) identified location of inspections only
– Relied on legacy flaw size assumptions
– Legacy tools (EC pencil probes)
– No TOD
– Inspections performed by contractor
• Little understanding of NDI
13
NDI Challenges
• Material
– Most Air Force NDI experience is with Aluminum
structure
– F-22 primarily Titanium (large grains)
– Typical Ti grain size ranges from 0.02” to 0.05”
• Geometry
– 1100 control points with 730 requiring inspection
– Bolt hole, edges, radii, hole bores
– Legacy probes made inspections difficult
14
NDI Challenges
• Detectable Flaw Size Assumptions
– Assumed legacy flaw sizes
– Surface Eddy Current
Inspection Area
• Titanium – 0.100”
• Aluminum – 0.050”
• Access Issues
– Low Observable (LO) Panels
– Time consuming teardown
and reassembly
– Aircraft downtime
– Obstructions
• Tubes, conduit, wiring, brackets,
etc.
15
NDI Lessons Learned - Material
• Understand the material

– Microstructure (grain size)
affects NDI capability
– Understand the responses
of Eddy Current,
Ultrasonic, etc. for material
• Don’t assume legacy PoD will work for new

material
– New material yields new NDI challenges
16
NDI Lessons Learned – Geometry
• Specialized equipment needs to be developed

– New NDI probes developed to replace legacy
probes
– Helps address geometry and flaw size challenges
17
Edge Probes
Grooved Housing
Guides Coil Along
Edges
Ratcheting
Head
Pivoting Coil Housing

Maintains Edge Compliance
18
Geometry and Detectable Flaw Size
• System specific training

– F-22 only system with system specific training
– How to use specialized equipment
– Decrease detectable flaw size
19
NDI Lessons Learned – Access Issues
• Development of SHM technologies
• Incorporate Form in Place (FIP) Panels

– Planned for 17 FIP panels initially
– Added 5 before EMD ended (23 total)
– 1 FIP recently added (24 total)
– 11 more in work (35 total)
20
Overall NDI Lessons Learned
• NDI is continual part of developmental cycle

– NDI development should parallel FSFT
• Develop NDI ahead of fleet
21
Data Capture Rate
• Data Capture Rate

– Percent of usage data obtained from field
– Usage Data Hours / Actual Usage Hours
• Data used to calculate damage growth rates
throughout aircraft
– Drives inspections in the field
• High data capture rate leads to:
– Inspections that accurately reflect usage
– Accurate aircraft availability
• 1530C requires 90% Data Capture Rate
22
Data Capture Rate Shortfalls
• Corrupt Data
– Data unable to be analyzed
– Software or aircraft issue
– Very small percentage of missing data
• TDY Data
– Anytime a jet does not land at an F-22 Base
– Bulk of the missing data
IAT 29 IAT 30
Production 90.80% 91.30%
F‐22 Bases 93.65% 93.88%
TDY 81.29% 82.63%
23
Data Capture Lessons Learned
• Important to understand what is happening in

the field
– ASIP base visits used to interact with OPS and
maintenance
• Establish TDY procedure with the field
– TDY procedure in work
– TO update for data collection
– Describes how to optimally use the Flight Data
Recorder (FDR) when TDY
– What needs to be done when there is no FDR
download station
24
F-22 Lessons Learned
• Important to properly manage to optimize

aircraft life
• Management lessons learned in:
– Fleet usage
– Nondestructive Inspections
– Data Capture
• Can be applied to management of current and
future aircraft systems
25
Distribution Statement D: Distribution is authorized to the Department of Defense and U.S. DoD contractors only. Administrative/Operational Use,
26
12/3/2011 . Other requests for this document shall be referred to ASC/WWU, Building 553, 2725 C Street Wright-Patterson AFB, OH 45433-7424

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F-22 Program Office

Dominant Air Power: Design for Tomorrow…Deliver Today

F-22 Force Management

• World’s most dominant and complex fighter

• NzW = Vertical Acceleration * Gross Weight

• Fatigue damage at primary tracking point

• Training fleet is used more

Actual Flight Hours

• Common trend among Air Force systems

• F-22 initially hoped to rotate tail numbers

• Very tough to rotate out of the training fleet

• Training fleet will retire sooner than rest of

• Since training fleet is used severely, create two

• Tight airspace at the end of the runway

• Important to interact with Ops

• Understand the airspace

• Nondestructive Inspections (NDI)

• Understand the material

• Don’t assume legacy PoD will work for new

• Specialized equipment needs to be developed

Pivoting Coil Housing

• System specific training

• Incorporate Form in Place (FIP) Panels

• NDI is continual part of developmental cycle

• Data Capture Rate

• Important to understand what is happening in

• Important to properly manage to optimize

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