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Lockheed drafts Siebel for F-35 Fighter Program

May 18, 2004 (by Anonymous) - Lockheed Martin plans to use commercial software from Siebel Systems Inc. to support the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter (JSF) program. Siebel's Service and Analytics solutions will be integrated into the F-35's Autonomic Logistics Information System (ALIS).
The system provides the information infrastructure that the military will use to maintain the F-35 fleet.

The ALIS information infrastructure will transmit data on a global network to maintenance technicians worldwide over a variety disparate support systems. It will automatically generate reports on the status of an F-35 aircraft's health and any required maintenance, as well as the location of necessary parts.

Siebel Service will handle the process of generating service requests through any electronic channel. Siebel Analytics will provide command and control functions, including asset visibility and measurement of key performance indicators.

Currently, traditional aircraft require approximately 10 hours of maintenance for every hour spent in flight. As ALIS develops, it is expected to drastically reduce this ratio, thereby increasing mission flight time.

Currently, traditional aircraft require approximately 10 hours of maintenance for every hour spent in flight. ALIS, including Siebel software, is expected to drastically reduce this ratio. The F-35 JSF team will also be able to support international warfighters anywhere in the world.

Specifically, the Siebel solution will provide the F-35 JSF team with a unified view of all maintenance activity, issue resolution, communications and inquiries, allowing the F-35 JSF support organizations to exchange information easily and quickly.

Brian Stone, general manager of Siebel's public-sector division, expects the Siebel rollout will support the first F-35 flights scheduled for the summer of 2005.

The Siebel product consists of three parts. One component is the service and logistics support segment, which tends to be reactive. This segment might involve accepting inquiries and service requests from the warfighter, the field or the garrisons, then turning them into service actions - dispatching personnel or going through a field service resolution process.

Another component preemptively identifies service downtimes by using "triggers" and metrics to flag when an F-35 or its parts need servicing. Meanwhile, the third component provides complete asset visibility throughout the lifecycle of an F-35 and all of its parts. This component provides the history of the weapons system and focuses on how to minimize downtime - reduce the number of hours in which the plane must be maintained, reduce time between operational maneuvers and increase the aircraft's overall availability.

The U.S. military is currently undertaking a multibillion-dollar initiative to increase the efficiency of its massive supply chain through use of RFID technology and other software. Just like any company purchasing software, one of the main objectives of the Department of Defense is to reduce TCO by eliminating manpower, in turn eventually reducing costs for taxpayers.


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