US Air Force Provides Grant for Development of Centralized Maintenance Data Software

The U.S. Air Force has given $1.8 million to a team composed of Air National Guard airmen and a U.S. Army civilian from the U.S. Special Operations Command for a solution that collates phased aircraft maintenance data to provide workers, warfighters and officials with a common, real-time view of information. The software was pitched to senior military leaders in March as part of the Academia Industry Military-Hybrid Innovations program.

The team presented a Microsoft Excel-based program called the Maintenance Inspections Data Analysis System, which is intended to pull data from quality assurance and inspection systems of records. MIDAS was originally built to address a low unit effectiveness evaluation given to the 129th Rescue Wing.

Staff Sgt. Lamar Porter, a 175th Mission Support Group personnel manager and 175th Wing Spark Cell member, said the team is adding artificial intelligence and machine learning to MIDAS to facilitate data compilation from various sources and enable new capabilities tailored to varying levels and domains.

According to Porter, the solution could be used for other operational readiness use cases within the Department of Defense, the 175th Wing said.