Characteristics of contract support

Maintenance support of weapon systems had been the responsibility of military forces for a long duration. As the advanced and complex weapon systems introduced into service from 1980s, the cost, labor and material requirements keep increasing, it becomes more and more difficult for military forces to maintenance the weapon by themselves, either from the perspective of capability and capacity, contractor has been the essential part of the maintenance support system of equipment. However, how to apply contractor support to maintenance of equipment and how to maximize the efficiency and benefits of maintenance support while meeting the military requirements, has been the common problem to be resolved by the world´s military forces. This paper analyzes the scope of the contractor support, discusses the regulations system and institutional mechanism, support patterns and summarizes the limitations of the contract support.