The two key tools the Navy Department uses to monitor the F/A-18 Super Hornet’s readiness battles don’t always go hand in hand, the Congressional Budget Office has found.

The CBO will conduct a monthly survey of hundreds of Super Hornets from two databases, the Logistics Analysis and Technical Evaluation System (DECKPLATE) and the Aviation Maintenance Supply Readiness Report (AMSRR), from March 2017 to September 2021. Analyzed uptime.

Databases determine availability in different ways. Whereas deck plates used by maintenance and logistics units record the monthly availability of aircraft and actual flight hours, AMSRR provides command and control as to whether an aircraft is capable of performing missions at any given time during the day. The CBO’s report was released on Monday, according to one source, which is evaluated daily by officials.

While the old DECKPLATE database is “the official tracking program for Navy and Marine Corps aircraft,” the Navy told the CBO that the new AMSRR system “better describes the availability of the Department’s aircraft.” Told.

The CBO found that AMSRR provides a better average utilization rate for Super Hornets than the DECKPLATE database, and that AMSRR rates are better at predicting aircraft flight times.

“The availability of the DECKPLATE should reflect the actual aircraft availability, but the CBO found what appeared to be a data error in the DECKPLATE. correlated more closely with actual flight times.”

Both systems had errors in the data, but the CBO found more errors in DECKPLATE, which he said “decrease the value of predicting flight times.”

“From 2017 to 2021, Super Hornets that report 100% availability on the DECKPLATE are much more likely not to fly within a month than those that report 100% availability on the AMSRR. In addition, Super Hornets reported as having zero availability on the DECKPLATE were more likely to fly than aircraft designated on the AMSRR (14 percent vs. 4 percent). ),” the report says of the error.

The Navy told the CBO, “The Department is working to improve the quality of aircraft availability data. If the DECKPLATE data were more accurate, the availability measurements made by that system would be comparable to those of the AMSRR.” or better match actual flight times,” the report said.

Underutilization of the Super Hornet has long been a concern of the Navy, and Admiral Mike Gilday, Chief of Naval Operations, has made improving the Super Hornet a major focus. He highlighted efforts to increase fleet utilization, which was 55% in 2019, with the “Get Real, Get Better” initiative launched in 2022. With this service, the utilization rate exceeded 80% in less than a year. said the Navy.

A February CBO report on the availability of the F/A-18 fleet, using data from DECKPLATE, noted that the F/A-18E/F Super Hornet and older F/A-18C/D experienced a significant decline”. From the mid-2000s to the mid-2010s, it was more available than any other fleet in the Admiralty. The report also found that the Super Hornet’s utilization rate is declining faster than older Hornet variants of the same age.

“Considering the age of the aircraft, the Super Hornets underperformed the previous generation Hornets and underperformed earlier generation F/A-18C/Ds of the same age. It’s statistically significant,” CBO said.

This week’s report also found that while annual aircraft utilization increased from 2018 to 2021, annual flight hours for each aircraft actually declined between 2017 and 2021.

“This result, which may seem counterintuitive, occurred because during that period the total Super Hornet flight hours became more evenly distributed across the fleet. The number of aircraft flying has also decreased,” the report said. “Although total flight hours decreased, the percentage of aircraft flown increased, which is consistent with the increase in utilization reported by AMSRR.”