Aircraft maintenance planning software developed jointly by Airbus Defence & Space and Cosling has been selected to be deployed on the French air force’s Mirage 2000 fleet. To be rolled out for the fighter fleet later this year, the Optaforce software was developed in response to the French DGA procurement agency’s OptiPlan challenge, and it is also supported by the French aeronautical maintenance department (DMAé).

The software is based on an optimization algorithm using artificial intelligence, which can generate different planning scenarios, and is used to maximize aircraft availability, reduce maintenance costs, and optimize the use of resources. It will additionally be possible to manage contingencies and easily reconfigure the aircraft for new missions, thus saving time and improving fleet management, Airbus said.

A prototype was built in just three months, it added. “We built the algorithm by successive iterations integrating the suggestions and remarks of the chief warrant officers as we proceeded,” Jean-Guillaume Fages, co-founder of Cosling said. “This agile operation allowed us to quickly develop a functional prototype, able to help all stakeholders in their decision making.”