The U.S. Department of Defense and Raytheon (Chalet 296) are working together to test the integration of artificial intelligence (AI) for smarter repairs of the U.S. Air Force’s CV-22 tiltrotor fleet. Using performance data rather than predetermined timescales, this AI tool that is being trialed will be able to be more precise on when repairs and checks have to be made, which helps in avoiding unnecessary downtime.
This is being carried out under a cooperative research and development agreement (CRADA) that will explore this predictive approach. While this is for the U.S. Air Force's fleet of V-22s, the U.S. Navy is the contracting authority. Raytheon is also discussing the potential of using this on various army and navy fleets.
“The game is changing really quickly, and data is everywhere,” Todd Probert, intelligence, information, and services lead at Raytheon, said Tuesday at the Paris Air Show. “The biggest challenge with AI is the confidence of the user.” That is why the CRADA is for a six-month period to assess the possibility of eventually routinely including it in prognostics.
Probert added that readiness is a challenge that militaries face, so using an approach like this that is more common in commercial aircraft maintenance could help them overcome this problem. The company and the USAF started working on this pilot program at the end of 2018 and expect that, through its planned concept testing over the coming years, it should be fully rolled out in 2020.