Novel Selective Maintenance Approach to Ensure Mission Reliability of Armored Vehicles Considering Multiple Deployment Roles in Distinct Operating Profiles

Abstract

Given the gravity of the element of surprise in modern warfare, military forces worldwide are constantly attempting to achieve and maintain operational readiness of their critical military equipment. Selective Maintenance (SM) is considered an effective approach for achieving system operational readiness. Effective use of the SM approach for military equipment requires considering various military-specific factors such as multiple deployment roles, distinct operating profiles, human reliability, and the use of refurbished or non-OEM spares. This makes the SM approach for military systems very challenging. This paper presents an approach that formulates the SM problem intending to achieve and maintain the required level of operational readiness for predefined future missions from a military viewpoint. This approach employs a novel methodology that estimates the mission reliability of military equipment while modeling the combined impact of several important military-specific factors. This complex yet necessary integration of various military-specific factors makes the present approach accurate and apt to the exact modus operandi of the armed forces. The developed approach is demonstrated for the maintenance of armored vehicles deployed on distinct missions under different operating conditions. Numerical investigations illustrate the efficacy of the present approach and highlight its advantages over the conventional maintenance approach.