Service Life Analysis of Coast Guard C-130 Aircraft

The U.S. Coast Guard is lacing a dramatic transformation of its forces to meet current and future service requirements. Responding to this transformation, the Coast Guard bas initiated the Deepwater System, a complete review of the offshore mission requirements and the modernization of its infrastructure. Deepwater will review and modernize the Coast Guard's aviation assets, improving aircraft systems, airborne sensors, and communications and information management systems. However, these capability advancements will take time and money to implement, and will require careful management of the current resources. One of the oldest and most versatile Coast Guard aircraft is the C- 130. Service life decisions regarding the C-130 are complicated by aging aircraft issues, and the introduction of the C-130. It will be difficult for Coast Guard decision makers to select bow program funding should be executed within the C- 130 fleet. This study examines bow long the current airframes can safely remain in service, bow mud the remaining service life will cost, and what level of availability can be realized for the rest of the service life. Answering these questions, it will then be possible to perform an insightful analysis of alternatives for modernizing, sustaining, and if necessary retiring the C-130s.Air Force Inst of Tech Wright-Patterson AFB OH School of Engineering and Management is the author of 'Service Life Analysis of Coast Guard C-130 Aircraft', published 2003 under ISBN 9781423504474 and ISBN 142350447X.