Military airworthiness management frameworks: a critical review

Despite all current measures taken to assure their safety, aircraft are still crashing. Since 1944 there has been a global organization, International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO), focused on providing rules for safety in civil aviation in a global context. With its inception, noting the steady increase in the number of flights per year, there has largely been a decrease in aircraft crashes, particularly after the 1970s. No global set of rules exist for Military aviation; who operate with greater risk tolerance and regularly carry explosive ordnance. It is each Nations responsibility to ensure that the operation of military aircraft does not affect the safety of civilian flights. Generically, Military Aviation Authorities (MAAs) have regulatory sets that are underpinned by ICAO principles, but no compliance to the principles is expected of them. Further, MAAs have many common goals and desired outcomes. However, interpreting across MAAs is a largely complex and time consuming task, requiring dedicated resources. Despite the large number of militaries, each with their own unique implementations, there is very little literature regarding the current status of military airworthiness. Further, there are some important partnerships between allied and collaborative militaries that are shaping the future of military airworthiness. This paper provides a summary of the significant Western Militaries airworthiness authorities and the forums and working groups in which they participate. In summarizing this paper highlights the opportunity for development of a platform for enabling a mutual recognition system improving global military safety and easily recognizing potential efficiencies.