Commander, U. S. Army Aviation & Missile Command, Acquisition Center, Building 5308, Redstone Arsenal, AL 35898-5280

99 -- BLACKHAWK HELICOPTER IMPROVEMENTS DUE 041400 POC Roger Olson, Utility Helicopters Project Manager's Office, (256) 955-6742 WEB: click here to view the BLACKHAWK Improvement Process, http://utility-helicopters.redstone.army.mil. E-MAIL: click here to obtain the BHIP SOP with annexes, craig.ailles@rdec.redstone.army.mil. SOLICITATION OF BLACK HAWK HELICOPTER IMPROVEMENTS -- Improvements to the BLACK HAWK Helicopter are constantly being identified, evaluated, and implemented for the purpose of improving safety, reducing Total Ownership Costs (TOC), improving mission effectiveness, and reducing unit maintenance hours. The Utility Helicopter Project Manager's Office (UH PMO) also solicits change/improvement candidates from BLACK HAWK Original Equipment Manufacturers (OEMs), users and supporters, so those viable candidates may be evaluated for funding and implementation. These candidates may address any of the following areas: 1. Safety of personnel and equipment: any identified condition that will place personnel and/or equipment at unacceptable levels of risk will be corrected. This may require program modification, reallocation of resources, and reordering of priorities, all of which will be accomplished to assure required safety. 2. Total Ownership Cost Reduction (TOCR): it is a constant requirement to obtain the maximum return on the investment of scarce resources. The UH PMO has prepared a prioritized list of H-60 high operating and support cost drivers identified by the Army, Navy, Air Force, and Coast Guard. The intent of this list is to identify candidates that will produce the greatest return on investment by reducing BLACK HAWK TOC, i.e., acquisition, and operating and support costs. 3. Mission effectiveness: all hardware improvements will be directed to improving equipment operational availability and effectiveness. This will include: a. Enhancing performance to assure mission accomplishment b. Improving equipment reliability, availability, and maintainability (RAM) c. Reducing weight, space, and power requirements d. Standardization of components e. Use of commercial and non-developmental items (CANDI) f. Use of common and dual use components g. Use of performance specifications. 4. Unit Maintenance Drivers: processes that drive unit maintenance will be evaluated for corrective actions in concert with the efforts to improve safety, reduce TOC, and improve mission effectiveness. These maintenance-driving candidate priorities were determined from maintenance events and maintenance hours expended to return UH-60s to fully mission capable. The BLACK HAWK Improvement Process (BHIP) Standard Operating Procedures (SOP) is available for viewing on http://utility-helicopters.redstone.army.mil. The BHIP SOP with annexes may also be obtained by E-mail request from: craig.ailles@rdec.redstone.army.mil. This BHIP SOP details the UH PMO priorities for improvement, how recommendations for improvement are prepared and submitted to the U.S. Army Aviation and Missile Command (AMCOM), and by whom, how and when these recommendations will be processed. The SOP also identifies the UH PMO's present priorities for improving safety, reducing TOC, improving mission effectiveness, and reducing unit maintenance hours. Posted 03/16/00 (W-SN435241). (0076)

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