How the global defence sector uses Repair, Don’t Waste to achieve astounding results
Throughout the years, Repair, Don’t Waste has built a strong relationship with the global defence sector by facilitating the repair of incredibly valuable assets in numerous settings. Such projects have included collaborations with the UK MoD, the Hellenic Airforce, and the Saudi Navy, but the partnership developed with the U.S Army has undoubtably yielded one of the most impressive single repair results that Repair, Don’t Waste have seen so far.
The National Guard unit of the U.S Army invested in specialist test and troubleshooting technology made by ABI Electronics in 2019, with the aim to fault find and repair pop-up range target PCBs and power supply circuits. After enormous success with their initial application, an inspired engineer used the equipment to repair something much more complex – a HVAC unit from a mobile vehicle shelter server system. HVAC systems are of vital importance to any military organization as they control heating and cooling in mobile shelters and armoured vehicles, ensuring the constant required temperature for servers and communication equipment. In this case, the HVAC unit was non-operational and replacement parts were no longer provided by the OEM, who deemed the system ‘unrepairable’ and its controller “impossible to be repaired”.
The mobile shelter was worth 10-12 million dollars and due to limited options imposed by contractual restrictions it would be scrapped if the engineer did not find a solution. Having completed the ABI training, the engineer reached out to the program manager and informed about the recently acquire technical expertise and diagnostic equipment requesting that the HVAC controller was sent to his depot location. Upon arrival, he ran numerous tests on different parts of the faulty circuit board, managed to identify and replace a few inexpensive faulty components that were readliy available. To everyone’s surprise, the HVAC system was fully repaired, tested and the mobile shelter booked back into the U.S Army military – and of course, 10 million dollars’ worth of equipment was saved from the scrap heap.
A former U.S Navy officer gave an invaluable insight into how the Repair, Don’t Waste mindset can benefit the defence sector:
“With so much on the line, the operational readiness of systems and platforms can be achieved through faster depot-level through-put to keep the front-line system inventory deep and deployable. Easy to learn and highly adaptable the ABI BoardMaster allows E-2’s to replicate the work of their senior enlisted and provide documentation of the test and test results. This is a game-changer.”
The Repair, Don’t Waste mindset is transforming how the global defence sector approaches obsolete and faulty electronics. In one example, the Brazilian Army repaired hundreds of Motorola radios – that were deemed obsolete and only replaceable at a price point of $3,000 each by the OEM – in just 2 short weeks, saving Brazilian taxpayers half a million USD. In the UK, the F35 International Support Hub (DECA) have been using specialist troubleshooting systems for 20 plus years to support a wide range of electro-mechanical equipment used on multiple aircraft, ships and submarine models. During an on-site seminar, DECA’s lead engineer stated:
“Despite having the latest ATEs and dedicated board level test systems, ABI products take us to the ultimate stage of fault finding a circuit board. We have been able to identify component level faults with ABI’s BoardMaster that no other system would. We don’t call it by name here in the lab, we call it “the life-saver” system!”
This change in attitude in the defence sector shows that no industry, no matter how established, can afford to ignore the unique challenges we face in the electronics industry and the changes that the 21st century demands. Opting out of sustainability measures such as maintenance and repair is not a viable solution in face of lack of OEM support and increased planned obsolescence. For the new-age defence sector to thrive, they must adopt age-old tactics – repairing and supporting critical assets to achieve the best possible results over the asset lifespan. Repair, Don’t Waste is empowering organizations to do just that.
