I have been asked to express a user's viewpoint of what is required to ensure the adequate Reliability of military aircraft before their introduction into service, and to outline briefly what the Operational Requirements staff of the Royal Air Force are now doing to assist in this.

The problem of unreliability arises, particularly for military aircraft, from the increasingly complex systems which are needed to meet our stringent performance requirements. The reliability of equipment has not kept pace, and this has led to difficult and costly maintenance problems. These difficulties are further emphasised by tactical requirements which demand minimum maintenance in the field. The nature of STOL/VTOL operational aircraft and the need to deploy them with minimum support facilities is a special case where reliability is of outstanding importance.