The M1A1 Abram’s Main Battle Tank (MBT) is expected to remain a key piece of USMC equipment beyond 2025. Because the majority of equipment life-cycle costs occur in the operations and support phase, it is imperative that program managers incorporate effective and efficient product support strategies, balancing costs and reliability to create value for the government. The purpose of this project is to determine the effects of age, as measured by the time since the last depot-level rebuild, on equipment operational availability for the M1A1 MBT in the Marine Corps. Our study includes an overview of the history of M1A1 development, Department of Defense materiel maintenance policy, M1A1 rebuild strategy, and prior M1A1 reliability studies. We reviewed depot- and unit-level maintenance records within the USMC’s System Operational Effectiveness database to establish a correlation between years since last rebuild and operational availability (Ao). The objective of our research is to quantify the age-related effects on Ao to better inform the decision-making process of USMC leadership in determining materiel maintenance strategies.

Subjects: M1A1 Abrams MBT; Reliability Centered Maintenance (RCM); Operational Availability; Materiel Maintenance; Anniston Army Depot; Depot-Level Maintenance