NAVAL AIR SYSTEMS COMMAND, PATUXENT RIVER, Md. – In fiscal year 2010, NAVAIR’s CH-53K Supportability Program (PMA-261) was searching for a way to effectively, systematically apply analytical techniques to keep costs down and performance high throughout CH-53K development and continuing fleet operations. Through due diligence, Bob Leavitt, H-53 logistics director, said he and his team evaluated several successful programs, including a major rail line and public airline operations centers, but Sikorsky’s S-92 Fleet Management Operations Center concept proved to be the best suited for the program’s needs. The team selected this concept as the model for PMA-261’s Fleet Common Operating Environment, or FCOE. Within two years, the team worked swiftly through contractual negotiations and processes that allowed the FCOE to become fully operational by the close of fiscal year 2012. The ribbon cutting for the facility was held at the Sikorsky office in Lexington Park, Md. on Oct. 25. A collaborative effort between PMA-261 and Sikorsky, the FCOE crunches every imaginable piece of data and trend related to the CH-53E in-service. The initial data is provided by maintainers, the fleet, Defense Logistics Agency, suppliers, and even the aircraft itself from the aircraft Health and Usage Management System (HUMS). This data is fed into 19 different Navy and DoD data sources. The FCOE takes all that various data and using incredibly flexible software, very neatly and efficiently analyzes, translates, organizes and presents it to engineers and other stakeholders so they can make predictive decisions that ultimately reduce flight-hour costs and increase performance and reliability. “The FCOE mission is for all stakeholders to use a common set of tools and processes. When applied across all PMA-261 programs, this will enable the right technical and business decisions, based on root-cause analysis, to drive operational success while reducing total ownership cost,” Leavitt said. “Reliability drives supportability, and our focus is to ensure we understand our actual reliability performance versus our baseline reliability performance.” Because FCOE members specialize in maintenance, logistics and engineering, their combined knowledge and experience in one room maximizes this team’s edge when it comes to forecasting and making recommendations based on the real-time data they review every day. PMA-261 has aggressively worked this approach to fuse data analysis beginning with the Integrated Logistics Support Management System (ILSMS). Dan Nega, Aviation Readiness and Resource Analysis (AIR 6.8) director, calls the FCOE “a pioneering effort led by PMA-261 with support from the AIR 6.0 (Logistics and Industrial Operations) competency.” Because CH-53K is a heavy-lift helicopter designed to be three times more capable than its predecessor while also being more affordable, cost and performance are more critical than ever. H-53 Program Manager Col. Bert Pridgen said he is already encouraged by the results. “The FCOE team is taking what we’re learning from the CH-53E and using this new information to drive down costs and increase reliability today. This not only ensures our bridge of support from 53E to 53K; it also sets conditions for the same application to the 53K community right out of the gate.” “The FCOE, using our in-service aircraft and new data from the 53K, will present clear business cases and actionable information to truly drive aircraft costs down and readiness up. Ultimately, the FCOE is about delivering capability at the right cost, at the right time, no matter what the platform may be,” he said. “We’ll do this continuously to ensure our new aircraft has the best possible performance at the best possible flight hour cost. We’re using all available technology to discover failures as early as possible, well before they occur.” The Fleet Common Operating Environment – Focus on “Common” Senior leaders from Headquarters Marine Corps (HQMC), Program Executive Officer for Air Anti-Submarine Warfare, Assault and Special Mission Programs (PEO(A)) and NAVAIR witnessed several powerful software demonstrations following the Fleet Common Operating Environment (FCOE) ribbon cutting on Oct. 25. It was a unanimous conclusion; the FCOE concept is common enough that it can be adapted to other aircraft platforms, and leadership recognized the team’s efforts and discussed the vast potential the FCOE presents to the Naval Aviation Enterprise. Commander PEO(A) Rear Adm. Paul Grosklags thanked Col. Bert Pridgen, PMA-261 program manager, and praised the FCOE team for its efforts. “Somebody always has to go first and you all are leading the way; you always have, starting with getting the HUMS (Health and Usage Management System) into the aircraft. You aren’t resting, you’re continuing to expand your horizons, and this gives more capability to the warfighter,” said Grosklags. Russell Howard, HQMC Assistant Deputy Commandant of Aviation (Sustainment) was very encouraged. “This is the right direction and it’s exciting,” he said. “I salute all the hard work from the NAVAIR and Sikorsky team. You’re looking at all the signature data that is going to drive us to the right actions where we can all find efficiencies.” Fiscal realities and schedules will always challenge the acquisition community. Deputy PEO(A) Todd Balazs sees common value in the FCOE where this is concerned. “The only way we can afford the future is to change the way we do business. We should not be thinking the way to approach the problem is to asked for an increase in budgets or more people, we need to think about being more efficient,” he said. The same perspective holds true from NAVAIR’s Logistics and Industrial Operations Aviation Readiness and Resource Analysis (AIR 6.8) Director, Dan Nega. “We see this as a best practice that will be leveraged to establish this capability across all platforms,” Nega said. “This work is about taking data and utilizing advanced tools and processes to turn that information into actions that will improve readiness and reduce operating costs.”