The Government Accountability Office (GAO) yesterday issued an important new report of interest to life cycle logisticians and and product support managers entitled “GAO-23-105556 Military Readiness: Actions Needed to Further Implement Predictive Maintenance on Weapon Systems.”

According to the GAO, “DOD spends $90 billion a year to keep ground systems, ships, and aircraft combat-ready using scheduled maintenance or waiting until things break to fix them. Using predictive maintenance based on data analysis could allow personnel to avoid doing work too soon—and prevent accidents. DOD told the military services to begin using predictive maintenance 20 years ago, but they made limited progress until recently. Also, DOD doesn't have firm plans on where to increase its use service-wide or measure results. We recommended that the military services organize, plan, and measure the shift to predictive maintenance to support continued improvements.”

In addition to reading through this new report, for additional information on this important topic, related references and resources include:

Related DoD References & Resources

• DoD Instruction 4151.22 Condition-Based Maintenance Plus for Materiel Maintenance
• DoD Condition-Based Maintenance Plus (CBM+) Guidebook
• DoD Manual (DoDM) 4151.22M, Reliability Centered Maintenance Manual
• MIL-STD-3034A Reliability-Centered Maintenance (RCM) Process
• DoD Inspector General Report DODIG-2022-103 Audit of the Department of Defense’s Implementation of Predictive Maintenance Strategies to Support Weapon System Sustainment

Related DAU Learning Assets

• LOG 0290 Condition-Based Maintenance Plus (CBM+) Online Training
• LOG 0300 Reliability Centered Maintenance (RCM) Online Training
• Condition-Based Maintenance Plus (CBM+) ACQuipedia Article
• Prognostics & Health Management (PHM) ACQuipedia Article
• Reliability Centered Maintenance (RCM) ACQuipedia Article