FUTURE DIAGNOSTICS TECHNOLOGY

Army maintenance management practices have changed little within the l ast 50 years. Despite continual attempts to improve upon its doctrine and efficiency; prevailing Army maintenance processes are still reacti ve rather than proactive. Said another way, the Army's maintenance inf rastructure remains in stasis before it cart diagnose the symptoms of any system or component failure. This is true regardless of whether a mechanic is troubleshooting a suspected failure or determining the con dition status of a system prior to operation. In either case, the curr ent diagnostic paradigm is essentially a de facto process. It does not allow for real-time assessment of a system's operating stare; nor is it capable of predicting failures. The current maintenance system is d esigned to verify current operational states-whether they are within o r out of tolerance with design parameters. It is this legacy which res ults in the current ''just-in-case'' focus of supply and maintenance, rather than the ''just-in-time'' support envisioned for Force XXI.