NGRAIN Corporation

As part of effective maintenance for any aircraft, accurately assessing airframe damage resulting from combat or environmental hazards is crucial. Seemingly small factors — such as the depth of a scratch or the distance of a hole from supporting structures — can impact flight-worthiness, aircraft stealth capability and pilot safety. As well, in an era of reduced spending and personnel, aircraft maintenance technician efficiency is essential. Recognizing these challenges, Lockheed Martin sought to streamline its damage and assessment process for the F-35. Traditionally, maintenance technicians would manually assess and track damaged areas by placing a transparent film over these areas and tracing reference points (such as fasteners and seams) with a marker. They would then cross-reference this information with repair data history captured in a spreadsheet. However, cross-referencing line drawings did not provide the optimal platform to visualize repair information, it was also quite cumbersome and time consuming — leaving more room for maintenance errors.