The Southwest Research Institute will continue its program to extend the life of aging military aircraft through a new contract worth up to $250 million with the US Air Force.
The Indefinite Delivery Indefinite Quantity contract award supports the US Air Force Academy Center for Aircraft Structural Life Extension, a program created to address aging aircraft structures and material degradation.
The eight-year contract will evaluate and help sustain the A-10 Thunderbolt II attack aircraft, the T-38 Talon supersonic trainer, the C-5 cargo carrier and the B-52 Stratofortress bomber. All four aircraft were introduced in the 1960s and 1970s.
The Southwest Research Institute (SwRI) will also provide technical engineering support for small fleets managed by Hill Air Force Base, including the T-41 and T-52 trainer aircraft, and the E-9 surveillance aircraft.
“While Air Force aircraft are the primary focus, the contract allows the Navy, Army and Coast Guard to utilize the program as well,” said David Wieland, who oversees SwRI’s Aerospace Structures Section. “Under the current contract, the scope of our work has grown to cover more aircraft fleets due to the effectiveness of SwRI’s program.”
SwRI will assess the structural integrity of the aircraft through component testing, full-scale testing, usage monitoring, stress analysis, and damage tolerance analysis. The work includes characterizing aircraft materials to better understand how cracks originate and grow.
The institute will conduct teardown inspections and material failure analysis to assess risk and help ensure the airworthiness of the aircraft. The comprehensive approach addresses the challenges of maintaining aircraft designed decades ago but still in active service.
The contract will also allow SwRI to continue supporting the Air Force’s digital transformation efforts. Because records such as maintenance logs and schematics connected to airplanes designed in the 1970s were all on paper, SwRI has been helping the Air Force convert these into digital records.
“This includes designing easily searchable databases and tools for digitized drawings, solid models and maintenance records,” said Luciano Smith, who manages SwRI’s Structural Integrity team. “It’s a valuable process for our customers to more efficiently store and work with their engineering and maintenance data.”
SwRI has provided technical engineering support to the Air Force for several decades, supporting aircraft subsystems including propulsion, avionics, electrical, mechanical, electromechanical and hydraulics technology. The institute also solves problems associated with information security and electronics systems.
The contract represents expansion of SwRI’s role in maintaining aging military aircraft fleets as the services work to extend operational life of platforms originally designed for shorter service periods. The digital transformation component addresses the challenge of managing decades-old documentation in modern maintenance environments.
“This program’s evolution is a testament to its success,” Wieland said. “SwRI has a strong reputation for being client-centered and responsive, ensuring continued growth and reliance on our expertise.”
