Corrosion: Acquisition and Sustainment Life Cycle Management During the Development of Aircraft Programs

Corrosion is a significant cost, readiness, and safety driver for the U.S. Air Force (USAF) and for the U.S. Department of Defense as a whole. The Air Force spent $5.4 billion on corrosion-related actions as determined in the 2009 Cost of Corrosion Report which is about one-third of its total aircraft and missile maintenance costs.  Corrosion is one key area that is often forgotten during acquisition and sustainment life cycle management during the development of aircraft and support equipment programs.  In fact too often, corrosion is an afterthought until problems start to arise in aircraft availability (Ao).   This paradigm does not support the Systems Lifecycle Integrity Management (SLIM). 

 

Air Force Policy Directive 63-1 “Acquisition and Sustainment Life Cycle Management” points out that “all programs shall consider corrosion implications.”    Even Congress understands the importance of corrosion mitigation with various publications such as DoDI 5000.67 “Prevention and Mitigation of Corrosion on DoD Military Equipment and Infrastructure.”  It is vital for corrosion to be included in SLIM during the planning stages of  SLIM Policies & Guidance and Acquisition Guidance & Templates stages as outlined in SLIM Timeline Long Term for FY 2010 and FY 2011.

 It is for these reasons that engineering must engage corrosion prevention and control during the acquisition phases.  Corrosion mitigation and repair results in increased cost and significant reduction of Ao.  Results have shown that programs who address corrosion initially have huge savings in life cycle and mission readiness.