Reliability Concepts and Related Experiences During the Eurofighter, Tornado, A400M and Other Projects

The objective of this presentation is to show the main important reliability subjects that should be used during all process phases in order to get design success and the right understanding of RAMTS. Reliability engineering is the key driver for operation and maintenance. From the beginning of a project, technical reliability is one of the most critical design drivers. The probability of functional failures, affecting either flight safety or mission success during aircraft operation, is one of the main influencing factors for redundancy requirements and drives system architecture and development costs in the design phase. Beyond these operational and safety effects, the reliability of a system is also one major aspect of the system’s inherent “logistic footprint.” Any defect in a system will require appropriate inspection and repair actions and consequently causes the majority of maintenance effort and logistic support costs.

Kurt Löhrmann
EADS Defence & Security, Military Air Systems
Germany