Health management and sustainment transformation in the US Air Force

The Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL), along with its many research partners, is actively engaged in aiding the transformation of the Air Force's sustainment practices. While the concept of health management has been discussed in the research community for some time now, the U.S. Air Force has faced many challenges which inhibit the transition of these technologies. However, times are changing in our Air Force. Transformation which is occurring at all levels of the Air Force seeks to eliminate the barriers which stand in the way of implementing Integrated Systems Health Management (ISHM). This paper will briefly discuss the various Air Force (AF) sponsored transformation activities and how these programs represent real opportunities to transition technologies which the health management community has been working so diligently on. The remaining portion of the paper will describe AFRL's ISHM vision and focus on the authors' own research in embedded sensing systems.