Blending technology could save $10 million in maintenance costs

Submitted by TEAM Public Affairs, Patuxent River

March 7, 2001

A technology successfully developed by Pratt & Whitney for repairing jet engines on commercial airliners has been adapted for use in military aircraft. Blendable Borescope technology is being used to repair damaged AV-8B Harrier engines without having to remove the engine from the aircraft.

Normally, if the fan blades in a Harrier engine are damaged by objects, such as rocks, being sucked into the air intakes, the engine would have to be removed from the aircraft, then taken apart to be repaired. This type of repair requires an average of 850 man-hours to complete and can cost more than $500,000.

Using Blendable Borescope technology allows most repairs of this type to be done while the engine is still installed in the aircraft, reducing the number of engine removals. The equipment is made up of a borescope with miniature grinding tools attached and another borescope equipped with a video camera.

The grinding tool is inserted into the engine through servicing ports to the site of the damaged blades. The damaged area is ground smooth, restoring the blades strength. Not all-Foreign Object Damaged (FOD) engines will be candidates for this procedure.

VMA-231 at Marine Corps Air Station (MCAS) Cherry Point, N.C., recently used the team to successfully blend FOD damage on several blades of an installed engine. The aircraft would have been grounded for more than 30 days due to a shortage of spare engines. The team repaired the engine damage in a little over three hours. VMA-231's aircraft was back on the flying schedule the same day.

VMA-214 at MCAS Yuma, Ariz., recently used the system to repair an installed engine. The team arrived at the base within 72 hours of being notified and repaired the engine within two hours.

A third engine is on the schedule to be repaired using the Blendable Borescope technology. With an average of 30 engine removals per year, blending saves more than 17,000 man-hours or allows 83 weeks more aircraft usage per year, potentially saving more than $10 million per year in maintenance costs.

Pratt & Whitney is on contract to send the Blending Borescope Team wherever and whenever repairs are needed. The Marine Corps will not need to develop its own team, saving the cost of buying this specialized equipment, training to use it and having to maintain it.

The AV-8B Harrier II Plus is a second-generation vertical/short takeoff and landing light-attack jet aircraft used by the Marine Corps primarily to provide close air support for ground forces. This single-seat, advanced fighter can operate from short fields, forward sites, roads and surface ships.