Summary: The F-16 aircraft is being developed in a cooperative undertaking between the United States and four European North Atlantic Treaty Organization countries. The current program provides for coproduction of 1,113 aircraft. An integrated logistics support (ILS) plan was developed to coordinate and control the logistics tasks necessary to support the aircraft, but the plan has had little influence on subsystem selections and support because: (1) the F-16 was a prototype program and integrated logistics support was not included in the prototype contract; and (2) the first ILS plan was not final until 10 months after the aircraft entered full-scale development.
GAO found that the Air Force could save $56 million in avionics equipment by centralizing intermediate maintenance in Europe and the United States. Centralization would also reduce requirements for personnel, equipment, and facilities. A Memorandum of Understanding with the European participating governments (EPG) commits the United States to having Europeans do depot repair for the F-16 aircraft in Europe. The Air Force provides a 10 percent backup aircraft inventory for depot maintenance and modification. However, GAO questions the need for this number of backup aircraft because the F-16 was designed to eliminate planned depot maintenance and overhaul. Reducing the inventory could save up to $1.4 billion. Although the Air Force researched the benefits of simulation over conventional hardware before deciding to buy the simulated aircraft maintenance trainer (SAMT), it did not adequately consider training alternatives in the event the delivery of the simulator was delayed. Portions of the pilot training equipment of the F-16 are still being developed and, as a result, the Air Force planners did not know exactly how often these trainers would be used. Many F-16 technical orders, which explain how to install, operate, and repair aircraft and related equipment, before it can do maintenance work, were not usable. The F-16 ILS plan did not include the time needed to design and fabricate mobile shelters to deploy avionics test equipment and had not been updated to show the new leadtimes needed.
