Revista Sextante

Predictive Maintenance Technologies and Operational Readiness in Defense Equipment

Tomasz Wieczorek-Albuquerque

Centre for Reliability and Asset Management Danube University of Applied Technology, Vienna, Austria

Keywords: predictive maintenance, operational readiness, prognostics and health management, digital twin, defense equipment

Abstract

Modern defense forces operate complex, costly, and ageing equipment fleets, including aircraft, ships, armored vehicles, and radar and missile systems, whose availability determines whether operational plans can be executed. Predictive maintenance, which uses sensor data, analytics, and prognostic models to anticipate failures before they occur, has emerged as a central strategy for sustaining operational readiness at acceptable cost. This article presents an integrative conceptual review of predictive maintenance technologies in the defense context. It examines conceptual foundations, sensing and condition monitoring, diagnostic and prognostic algorithms, digital twins and platform health management, logistics integration, readiness metrics, data security and legacy equipment constraints, workforce and governance issues, and future research priorities. A conceptual graph compares maintenance strategies in terms of operational availability and sustainment cost, showing how progression from reactive to integrated predictive approaches is expected to improve readiness while lowering cost. The article concludes that technology alone is insufficient: benefits depend on data quality, supply chain responsiveness, trained personnel, secure architectures, and organizational commitment to act on predictive information.