Current Air Force operations are undergoing significant changes necessitated by increasing fiscal constraints, increasing aircraft usage, and recent drawdown in personnel to perform maintenance, repair, and other necessary functions. In order to deal with these challenges, the Air Force must effectively improve current operations. This paper will explore potential structural health monitoring (SHM) solutions to some of the challenges facing aircraft maintenance and repair operations. As with any problem, a variety of solutions exist and this paper will explore the potential solutions and limitations of various options. Aircraft SHM is an intriguing concept with potential capability to revolutionize current Air Force maintenance operations. However, this capability needs to be balanced with the total life cycle cost associated with developing, training personnel, integrating, maintaining, and disposing of the SHM system. This thesis attempts to analyze several potential solutions to SHM problems by developing and implementing a value-focused thinking model as a decision-making tool.
