Reliability Efforts in Large European Programs for Military and Commercial Aircraft Development

Many large complex aerospace programs in Europe are carried out on an international basis, i.e., by multinational industrial consortia and based on multinational governmental support. The sophisticated program structures established for this reason create a new type of problem area which influences project performance and also extends on the reliability area. Whereas, generally, reliability is primarily directed towards overcoming technical risks by well-known engineering methods and control procedures, in multinational projects the aspect of overall risk management is becoming increasingly important and has to be adequately considered in the organizational structure. The above considerations are reflected in the reliability cooperation models of the Panavia 200 (MRCA) and the European Airbus A 300 Programs, which represent two of the largest current European multinational development programs. The experience gained through these programs can be applied to any other type of complex international development task. International cooperation in the reliability area can strongly increase the resources of technical information and know-how useable for the project. Although compromises between conflicting opinions and philosophies are unavoidable, reliability work may become more efficient overall because of more practical approaches.