BAE Systems has awarded AES a 1 year contract extension for the provision of oil sampling and analysis services in support of the TERRIER® Armoured Engineer Vehicle, prototype and demonstrator vehicles. Terrier® is the replacement for the Combat Engineer Tractor (CET).

AES has been contracted to continue providing technical support and assistance to BAE Systems through the provision of the Machine Care Plus® early failure detection service which is based upon the analysis of engine, transmission and hydraulic oil samples, and equipment usage data. The TERRIER® Armoured Engineer Vehicles undergoing trials and development benefit from readily available and comprehensive information, which is produced using AES expert decision support software and the experience of ex-military technical staff.

Oil samples are taken and operating parameters recorded by the equipment crews to provide the raw data for analysis by AES. Once the data has been processed and interpreted condition assessments and remedial actions are made available to the project manager and key personnel via a secure data dial-up telephone connection.

It is extremely important to identify potential design or operating problems at an early stage, by gathering as much data as possible, which is then analysed to identify trends or anomalies. The Original Equipment Manufacturer specialists are then able to conduct additional physical checks to confirm the significance of these occurrences, and if necessary take action to prevent the situation re-occurring. In an extreme case, a system might require to be enhanced or re-designed and the same process that assisted in the identification of the problem can be used to confirm the remedial action has been successful.

AES software development staff have also assisted BAE Systems Reliability Engineers by writing a software application to efficiently process TERRIER® HUMS (Health and usage monitoring Systems) data. The application organises large amounts of equipment data into a more usable format. It is very flexible and can be adopted to process a varying range of parameters which can then be linked to the oil analysis and usage data.

It is envisaged that the information gained and lessons learnt during the TERRIER® trials will be used to support the production vehicles once introduced into service. This means that a ‘Condition Based’ service and proactive maintenance regime can be used to ensure maximum availability and reduce equipment support costs.