Quantifying the Impact of Maintenance Manpower on Helicopter Readiness in the Army National Guard

Using causal econometric methods, IDA researchers found that increasing the number of military technician mechanics at Army National Guard aviation support facilities of all sizes reduces helicopter maintenance timelines to a statistically significant extent. We estimated that the addition of a single military technician mechanic at each support facility would produce 23 to 30 additional mission capable hours per H-60 Black Hawk helicopter. We further found that additional military technician manpower would be a more cost-effective way to improve helicopter readiness than borrowing or buying additional UH-60M helicopters.