Page 54 - Australian Defence Magazine November 2019

BOEING
SUSTAINMENT
CHINOOK
“One of the innovative features of BDA’s CISS sustainment model is provision for the company’s AnalytX data solutions system.”
(and) it is very similar to our other sustain- ment contracts,” Aaron Jones, BDA business manager, Emerging Markets said to ADM.
“It’s a five-year rolling-wave contract, with one five-year term and a performance review every year, where the Common- wealth measures our performance against a range of measures.”
“This is a core capability BDA is bring- ing into Australia. We’re now establish- ing the data analytics framework - we have the technology and we’re taking a program by program approach, because each program requires a tailored ap- proach. Chinook is somewhat of an early adopter, because the Commonwealth
was aware of what we were doing with data analytics when we were negotiating the CISS contract.”
The CISS contract there- fore has the terms and condi- tions to allow AnaltyX to be incorporated into the Chi- nook sustainment program and as part of the initial phase, the Commonwealth is now assessing the suite of tools it might provide and BDA in turn is assessing cus-
tomer data, in order to inform the next step. “We’re at that initial phase, testing our assumptions and requirements to take it to the next stage,” Jones said. “Our approach across all our sustainment programs is that of the platform steward and our intent is to
bring data analytics in as a tool suite.”
The AnayltX tool also brings with it the potential for Australian small to medium enterprises (SMEs) working in the software
domain to win work, as Jones explains. “There are a significant number of SMEs in the Australian market that have incred-
ible analytics capabilities and software ap- plications that can analyse a specific piece of data on an aircraft and we want to embrace that expertise across Australian industry,” Jones said.
“We’re trying to identify these companies and invite them to have a discussion with us - with the potential for them to provide data to the Commonwealth under our support infrastructure.”
SME role
Australian SMEs have already one work in the Chinook sustainment area and BDA has recently created the Boeing Rotorcraft Network Australia (BRNA) as part of its bid to supply the AH-64E Apache to Army, against its Land 4503 (armed reconnais- sance helicopter) requirement.
The BRNA is an ICN Gateway which aims to optimise opportunities for local SMEs across its rotary wing programs in Australia, with a view to including success- ful candidates in the global supply chains.
Well-established SMEs such as Ferra Engineering and Marand have directly sup- ported Army’s Chinook operations with the manufacture of components which may otherwise resulted in significant downtime, due to the long lead times of US supplied replacement parts.
Ferra produced complex formers for repairs of the rear fuselages of Army CH- 47Fs, which have experienced cracking.
“There are very long lead times to pro-
Boeing AnalytX
One of the innovative features of BDA’s CISS sustainment model is provision for the compa- ny’s AnalytX data solutions system, which has the potential to realise savings in through life support, through initiatives such as predictive maintenance and supply chain optimisation.
“It’s about being able to bring the cus- tomer’s data into a central location and be- ing able to aggregate it with the Original Equipment Manufacturer (OEM) data and allow us to do the smart data analytics,” Jones explained.
54 | November 2019 | www.australiandefence.com.au