Description
Organization: NAVAIR
Team Name: Thin-Pack Parachute System IPT
Related Acquisition Topic(s): Alpha Contracting, Commercial Practices, Cycle Time Reduction (CTR), Financial Management, Integrated Product and Process Development (IPPD), Open Systems
Description:
The Thin-Pack Parachute is a Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) success story. When the Navy sought to reduce the unwieldy size and weight of its still-in-use 1950s bailout chutes, it was a small company in North Carolina, SEI, who ultimately answered the call. Borrowing materials and techniques from the food processing and pharmaceutical industries, SEI (a subsidiary of Simula) developed a revolutionary way to vacuum seal parachutes. In fact, so compelling was this new process that the Navy decided to skip Phase III of the SBIR and launch the technique immediately into EMD. Together, the Navy and SEI planned, designed, developed, and qualified a new state-of-the-art emergency parachute system. The new Thin-Pack chute is safer, more reliable, more comfortable, and far more economical than any military predecessor. A conservative estimate of cost avoidances for the Navy over the next 27½ years is $100 million. If the Thin-Pack repack cycle can be extended beyond its current 5½ years (and experts believe it will), these savings could near a billion dollars for the same time frame. As for performance, August 1999 qualification tests showed extraordinary performance characteristics. Low-rate initial production (LRIP) commenced in October 1999, with P-3 aircraft Initial Operational Capability (IOC) planned for February 2000. Thin-Pack testing for the E-2C aircraft is underway with an IOC planned for July 2000. Four additional Naval aircraft types are slated for Thin-Pack configurations, along with various Air Force and Foreign Militaries.
Operational Improvements
Thin-Pack is a lightweight environmentally-sealed parachute assembly that features an innovative, hermetic sealing material. This sealing material surrounds the parachute canopy and protects it from physical and environmental hazards, allowing parachute repack cycles to be extended well beyond current mandatory cycles. The parachute system is lightweight and presents a clean, snag free, external profile. The canopy is made of a low porosity material; a special “extended skirt” provides reduced opening loads, reduced opening distance, minimal oscillation, a reduced rate of descent, and performance characteristics are virtually unaffected by environmental conditions. (It performed flawlessly even after extended severe cold-soaking at temperatures as low as negative 65oF; no other chute is known to have this capability.) A new “one size fits all” harness assembly is also incorporated and provides a quick-don capability. Certified Navy test parachutists offered comments like, "Opening was so soft I didn't really feel it," "Good maneuverability/quite responsive," "Controls very user friendly," "I would have no second thought about exiting a disabled aircraft."
Reduced Life Cycle Costs
Thin-Pack variants are planned for up to six different Naval aircraft platforms—leveraging one common design where there are currently variations of four different parachute designs. Not only is the team capitalizing on the cost savings seen by using a common design, but they calculate staggering logistics cost avoidances. Based on a 5½ year repack cycle and a 27½ shelf life for the Thin-Pack chute, the team estimates returns on investment as soon as 6 years. (Most current parachutes are repacked every 660 days (E-2C is worse with a shorter 224-day cycle); overall Intermediate Level Maintenance will be reduced 85%.) Thin-Pack related cost avoidances are estimated at $17M in 10 years; $40M in 15 years; $64M in 20 years; $87M in 25 years; and $100M in 28 years. Wonderful as these savings may be, the team's goal is to expand these savings, perhaps to the billion dollar mark. They are confident Thin-Pack's 5½ year repack cycle can be extended; their goal is to stretch it out to meet the chute's 27½ service life. By reducing the chutes' potential for damage at each repack; by reducing repack maintenance man-hours; and by lowering the overall number of new chutes needed each year, the team may just meet their goal.
Acquisition System More Efficient, Responsive and Timely
The Thin-Pack program is a model of efficiency. First, Thin-Pack systems will be repacked (if applicable) at the Prime Contractor's facility, removing costly support efforts from the fleet maintenance activities. Main canopy spares will be provided to fleet support activities pre-packed and environmentally sealed in modular form, making the replacement of the canopy assembly a simple remove-and-replace procedure. A majority of the system hardware is fabricated from stainless steel materials further reducing the need for maintenance or replacement due to environmental degradation, particularly in corrosive Naval salt water environments. The team also maximized efficiency by using Air Force proven products, where current Navy products proved inappropriate or inadequate, further streamlining the acquisition support system. In fact, the Navy and Air Force continue to work closely to develop a single system that can be used by both Services with little or no modification to either service's acquisition system or support concepts. And as the U.S. and foreign air forces move forward to purchase Thin-Pack variants, all anticipate greater efficiency and cost savings.
Integrating Defense with the Commercial Base and Practices
Founded in an SBIR initiative, the Thin-Pack team's hallmark has been commercial-based innovation. Specifications were generated to foster performance related characteristics and allow the contractors more latitude to establish material requirements, processes, and procedures conducive to their own internal and best commercial practices.
Promoting Continuous Improvement of the Acquisition Process
The Thin-Pack team approached the overall acquisition process with a strategy to streamline the entire acquisition effort while building a true team atmosphere. Once a prime contractor was selected under the SBIR process, the team elected to implement the “Alpha” contracting approach, jumpstart dialogue, and create a bond between the Government and private industry. In this cooperative atmosphere, the team opted to use processes and materials not yet used within the military and develop an off-the-shelf item that could be used by customers other than Naval aviation.
