COMBAT MAINTENANCE AND GAS TURBINE ENGINES

This paper deals with what the Light Helicopter Turbine Engine Company (LHTEC) working together with the U.S. Army did to ensure that tomorrow's soldier is prepared to deal with wartime repair situations on the Army's new T800 engine. Emergency maintenance does not have to be haphazard. With a little thought and planning up front in the design phase, much can be done to ensure that the soldier is prepared to deal with the unexpected. The Army initially challenged LHTEC to develop Combat Maintenance/Battle Damage Assessment and Repair (CM/BDAR) procedures in the T800 request for proposal (RFP). The resulting contract called for LHTEC to perform an analysis and develop an expedient field-fix capability for damages that would normally require replacement of the en- gine/component. The repairs had to be capable of being performed in less than 4 hours (90% single-sided confidence), and they had to last at least 100 flight hours. LHTEC responded with a plan to develop the repairs, and then to prove their effectiveness by demonstrating the repairs on actual damaged hardware and running them on an engine for the prescribed period of time. This paper describes the analytical approach taken by LHTEC. It includes the requirements, the research of on-going CM/BDAR programs and Army doctrine, the damage modes considered and maintenance action priorities, and a look at the CM/BDAR Test Plan and demonstration results.