About this book:

*Maintenance Matters: Lifecycle Sustainment and Military Readiness* argues that military success depends less on the initial acquisition of high-tech hardware and more on the disciplined, long-term orchestration of maintenance, supply chains, and data management. Contesting the common "buy now, fix later" mentality, the book posits that readiness is a designed outcome. It advocates for integrating supportability into the earliest engineering phases to reduce total ownership costs and maximize fleet availability over decades of service.

The text provides a comprehensive technical framework for modern sustainment, detailing essential methodologies such as Reliability Centered Maintenance (RCM), Level of Repair Analysis (LORA), and Failure Mode, Effects, and Criticality Analysis (FMECA). Central to its thesis is the shift toward data-driven strategies, specifically Condition-Based Maintenance Plus (CBM+) and the use of digital twins. These tools allow maintainers to move from reactive repairs to predictive interventions, utilizing real-time sensor data to anticipate failures before they compromise a mission.

Beyond technical engineering, the book explores the strategic and contractual dimensions of logistics. It champions Performance-Based Logistics (PBL) as a way to align industry incentives with military outcomes, such as operational availability, rather than simple part transactions. It also addresses the complexities of the modern global landscape, including the threat of counterfeit parts, the necessity of cybersecurity within the maintenance enterprise, and the emerging requirement for "contested logistics," where forces must sustain themselves in disrupted or hostile environments using technologies like additive manufacturing.

Ultimately, the work serves as a practical guide for logisticians and program managers to convert sustainment theory into repeatable combat power. By blending foundational logistics doctrine with advanced technological trends, it provides a roadmap for maintaining readiness in an era of aging fleets and rapid technological change. The book concludes that maintenance is not merely an overhead expense but a critical component of national security and a primary driver of a military's enduring operational reach.

What You'll Find Inside:

• Lifecycle Sustainment Management and the Lifecycle Sustainment Plan (LCSP) provide the strategic framework for aligning policy, resources, and integrated product support to ensure long-term fleet readiness.
• Reliability, maintainability, and availability (RM&A) are core design principles that must be engineered into systems early to achieve high mission-capable rates and lower total ownership cost.
• Condition-Based Maintenance Plus (CBM+), predictive analytics, and digital twins enable proactive maintenance by forecasting failures and optimizing repair schedules, reducing unscheduled downtime.
• Performance-Based Logistics (PBL) contracts shift focus from transactions to outcomes such as availability and MTBF/MTTR, aligning industry incentives with warfighter readiness goals.
• Effective spares determination, repair cycle optimization, and rigorous configuration management (including IUID and data governance) are essential for minimizing logistics delays and sustaining operational tempo.

Who's It For:

This book is written for military logisticians, program managers, systems engineers, and sustainment professionals who oversee the after‑support of weapon systems, as well as contractors and industry partners delivering logistics and maintenance services. It equips readers with the methodologies, tools, and real‑world case studies needed to design for supportability, optimize sustainment networks, and drive continuous improvement in fleet availability. Acquisition officers and senior leaders seeking to balance upfront investment with long‑term operational costs will also find valuable guidance on integrating sustainment considerations into the acquisition lifecycle.