United Services launched its line maintenance network in August, essentially leveraging its brand through a network of independent line service specialists. "We did not want to take the risk of establishing joint ventures, or own and staff new locations to grow our line service business," said Alan Butterfield, the company's vice president for line maintenance. "We concluded that the best way to do this was to set up alliances between ourselves and competent maintenance providers that would offer our customers a one-stop shop.

Line maintenance, long considered the last bastion against the accelerating trend to outsource maintenance, now appears to be fast tracked in the direction of third-party vendors. It is easy to see why. According to BACK Aviation Solutions and TeamSAI, line maintenance accounts for $8.9 billion, or 23 percent, of the $38 billion worldwide commercial jet transport MRO market (see O&M, April 2005, p. 58 for complete forecast).

Considered the world's most capable operational air superiority weapon, the F/A-22 Raptor's roots extend back to 1981, when the Air Force argued for a more advanced fighter than its frontline McDonnell Douglas F-15s. At the time, the justification was the need to counter (then) new developments in Soviet fighter aircraft technology. By Sept. 7, 1997, when an engineering and manufacturing development (EMD) aircraft, then known as the F-22, made its first flight, the Soviet Union was history.