Chapter 6.1.2 Annex B -  Introduction into Service of New or Modified Aircraft Types – Aviation Safety Acquisition Management Plan (ASAMP)

Introduction

The Defence Aviation Safety Regulations (DASR) establish a series of interrelated requirements that must be satisfied for the issue of DASA authorisations necessary to support Introduction into Service (IIS) and the commencement of flight operations of a new or modified aircraft. A representation of the interconnectivity of DASA authorisations for Defence registered aircraft acquisitions is in Appendix A. Coordinated development of the supporting data and artefacts required under the DASR for each DASA authorisation will minimise the potential to introduce capability risks of not having DASA authorisations in place to support the intended scope of operations prior to IIS. DASA recommends developing a programmatic plan (known as an Aviation Safety Acquisition Management Plan (ASAMP)) to coordinate the development of supporting data and artefacts required to achieve the interrelated DASA authorisations under the DASR.

Purpose

This chapter describes the process of planning and the execution required to develop an ASAMP. 

DASR Requirements

Identification of regulations

This annex traverses multiple DASR to provide clear direction as to how the Capability Manager (CM) / Military Air Operators (MAO) and System Program Offices (SPO) may plan and document their strategy for achieving aviation safety requirements during acquisition11As the operator of aircraft within the DASF is usually a MAO, this chapter assumes that aviation safety program development and applications to DASA come from the MAO (while also acknowledging that applications may come from a variety of sources including Project Offices and other support agencies). Ultimately, the responsibility for submission of these applications is on the MAO. Therefore, unless stated elsewhere, the term MAO includes the MAO, CAMO, Sponsor (NDRA or certain categories of UAS), Project Office and their agents.. The following DASR are applicable to this annex:

DASR ARO, NDR and UAS

DASR 21

DASR M

DASR 145

DASR 66

DASR 147

DASR SMS

Guidance

Within the Defence Aviation Safety Framework (DASF), a MAO must obtain the required DASA authorisations prior to commencing aircraft flying operations using Defence registered, Non-Defence registered or Uncrewed Aircraft Systems. These DASA authorisations cover both:

product, such as:

MTC/TCDS

major change to type design

Military Certificates of Airworthiness

registration of aircraft

people and process, for instance:

organisational approvals such as:

MAO

CAMO

MDO

Aircraft Maintenance Programme

maintenance licenses / type ratings and permits. 

Read narrowly, the DASR associated with each of these authorisations are self-contained and provide the detail required to achieve each authorisation as a standalone activity. However, experience in implementing these regulations has demonstrated that insufficient coordination of these authorisations poses a substantial risk to program goals and may cause risks to aviation safety. The design of the ASAMP framework supports development of a coherent strategy to achieve the required safety authorisations.

Why an ASAMP?

The ASAMP design addresses conditions unique to the DASF and does not exist in comparable aviation safety frameworks. Specifically, Introduction-Into Service (IIS) activities under the DASF usually include multiple parallel lines of effort across Initial Airworthiness, Continuing Airworthiness and Flight Operations domains. These lines of effort cross organisational boundaries, such as the MAO, Capability Acquisition and Sustainment Group, industry, foreign militaries and CAAs/MAAs. Additionally, the integrated nature of the regulations means that considerations in one domain— such as shortfalls against airworthiness requirements identified during type certification— may require implementation of measures in the flying management system under the flight operations regulations. The MAO’s development of a coordinated approach to aviation safety across Initial Airworthiness, Continuing Airworthiness and Flight Operations will assist in establishing that risks to safety have been eliminated or otherwise minimised so far as is reasonably practicable. The ASAMP supports commanders and managers to account for this cross-regulation dependency and fulfilment of safety obligations.

DASA advice should be sought where there is uncertainty as to the need for an ASAMP.

Aviation Safety Acquisition Management Plan

The ASAMP documents a strategy for achieving the required DASA authorisations required for IIS. These DASA authorisations include organisational authorisations, product authorisations and personnel authorisations. A supporting schedule should detail the requisite DASA authorisations, identify the responsible organisations, provide indicative submission dates, identify anticipated DASA involvement and specify required DASA response dates. 

The intended audience for the ASAMP is the CM/MAO, SPO, CAMO, DASA and Flight Test staff involved in the acquisition program. The ASAMP should contain sufficient detail to contextualise the contributions of each of these work areas22The ASAMP is not a complete capability realisation, project management or systems engineering plan for all aspects of the acquisition. Instead, the ASAMP focuses on achievement of DASA authorisations and is only required to detail elements of the complete program that relate to aviation safety..

The CM/MAO and SPO should consider raising an ASAMP in the following circumstances:

when introducing a new aircraft type into Defence service

when incorporating substantial design changes that are complex, and require coordination of numerous, diverse activities to achieve the required DASA authorisations

when introducing a Certified or Specific Type A category Uncrewed Aviation System (UAS) into Defence service.

The ASAMP should describe the overarching aviation safety acquisition strategy and bring together the planned outcomes of the operational, technical, logistic and safety management activities. The ASAMP needs to describe arrangements that will support IIS and all aviation safety activities required to realise the scope of operations described in the SOIU.

The ASAMP should describe the management of flight operations during acquisition. Specifically, if flight operations are to commence prior to achieving all aviation safety authorisations (e.g. commencing flying before receiving MTC) the ASAMP must provide a detailed description of the process to be employed for identifying and managing aviation safety hazards during this period. 

Acceptable approach to compliance

Before the first flight under the DASF, commanders must ensure suitable arrangements for Initial Airworthiness, Continuing Airworthiness and Flight Operations are established. Therefore, it is incumbent on commanders to establish an aviation safety program that is capable of demonstrating compliance to all relevant aspects of the DASR for their specific context. 

Determine applicable DASA authorisations. The DASR are a suite of requirements that accommodate all forms of military aviation. Because of this necessary breadth, not all DASR will be applicable to every program. Therefore, it is necessary for the CM/MAO to determine which DASA authorisations are applicable to their program. A number of factors, including the method of procurement, method of registration, existing certifications with other airworthiness authorities, logistics support concepts, anticipated tasks and roles will influence this decision.

Planning. The CM/MAO should plan how to achieve the required DASA authorisations. When government approves a new capability or major change, the IIS date (the date by which all DASA authorisations to conduct flight operations must be in place) is set.  Hence, the CM/MAO should schedule (in the program plan—called out in the ASAMP) the DASA authorisations necessary to conduct flight operations in time to meet the IIS date. To identify the work breakdown structure to schedule the enabling activities for the necessary DASA authorisations, a CM/MAO should identify the task dependencies nested in the DASR and work backwards from the IIS date to determine the required sequence and schedule of activities. 

At this stage of development, it is not necessary for the CM/MAO to have detailed plans regarding exactly how to achieve each DASA authorisation. However, if the CM/MAO seeks relief from demonstrating compliance to DASR by utilising CAA/MAA recognition or another flexibility provision, then the CM/MAO should engage DASA to discuss the suitability of the proposed approach. 

Workshops. During the acquisition phase, there may be multiple ways for projects to achieve aviation safety requirements—with differing timelines, risks and resource or capability costs. When SPO and CM/MAO are evaluating the different options, DASA staff may be able support evaluation workshops. Early engagement with DASA is key to obtaining assistance. DASA staff can advise how the DASR will apply to the different options; and inform how a prospective applicant should structure their submissions to DASA. 

Stakeholder endorsement. The SPO should obtain stakeholder endorsement before approving an ASAMP. Senior executives from the organisations responsible for achieving tasks listed within the ASAMP should endorse the ASAMP. To ensure ACAUST may verify compliance within the OPAW framework required, the Project Manager must submit an ASAMP to ACAUST for endorsement. If the aircraft Type has been listed on a MAOC OPSPEC, the relevant FEG CDR must also endorse the ASAMP prior to ACAUST review. DG DASA endorsement is required. Prior to DASA endorsing the ASAMP, staff from each of the DASA Directorates (Initial Airworthiness, Continuing Airworthiness, Aviation Operations and Aviation Engineering) will confirm that the tasks outlined in the ASAMP are sufficient to achieve IIS. DASA staff will also identify caveats to the DG DASA’s endorsement of the ASAMP. Detailed review at the endorsement stage minimises the likelihood of identifying additional aviation safety requirements during the latter stages of the acquisition process, and minimises attendant impacts on schedule and cost. 

ASAMP content guidance

The ASAMP is a flexible document that CM/MAO/SPO should modify to meet the needs of their project. However, the following topics are applicable to all new or modified aircraft types. The following paragraphs provide guidance regarding the content of an ASAMP.

Structure. The ASAMP provides the high-level plan for achieving DASA Authorisations necessary for IIS. SPO’s and CM/MAO’s may find it beneficial however to also include lower-level, detailed planning information regarding how each specific DASA Authorisation will be achieved, the required tasks, assigned responsible organisations for accomplishment and task coordination and schedule. To minimise amendment and approval overhead, the low-level planning for individual DASA authorisations should be included as annexes to the ASAMP, with separate configuration control and Approval/Endorsement  fields. Figure 1 below represents the structure of the ASAMP.

Figure 1: ASAMP Structure

Coordination and scheduling. General programmatic and scheduling information, including a:

general description of the acquisition activity including key activities and a general description of the capability outcome and method of acquisition

high level acquisition schedule which details key capability milestones (eg delivery of aircraft, first flight, initial materiel release, full operating capability).

Projects may choose to introduce new aircraft by starting with a minimum viable capability; and then progressively adding new roles, as support arrangements mature. If adopting this approach, projects should incorporate a basic description of the capability milestones into the ASAMP.

Registration of aircraft. This section should detail the planning for the registration of new aircraft or additions to existing fleets. DASPMAN Chapter 6.1.1 annex B provides further guidance.

Initial and Continued Airworthiness aspects. This section of the ASAMP should detail the planning for both product and organisation authorisations. Where the aircraft is to have an MTC, many of the certification details will be contained in the CPP. Therefore, the objective of this section is not to reiterate what is in the CPP22Initial Airworthiness certification discussion should be constrained to those aspects required for the MAO-AM and other agencies to understand the interactions between the CPP and other platform capability development plans.. Instead, this section is to focus on how artefacts developed in the Initial Airworthiness domain relate to the overall aviation safety program and how other DASA authorisations may affect Initial Airworthiness aspects. This section should include: 

an overview of the key features of the certification strategy33This is not a substitute for the CPP. This content should not be exhaustive and is essentially an executive summary of the CPP for general consumption., such as:

use of recognition of prior acceptance

indigenous development of compliance demonstration evidence 

flight testing of Defence registered aircraft either in Australia or under another CAA/MAA. 

identification of the certification products such as MTC or major changes to type. This should include general details of sequencing when multiple changes are required to achieve the scope of tasks described in the SOIU

a description of where to employ an MPTF to conduct flying without a, or with an invalid, Military Certificate of Airworthiness (MCoA)

identification of applicable MCoA requirements and a description of who will address these requirements and when

if the initial certification is less than the complete scope of the SOIU, an identification of the anticipated limitations at first flight (ie what the aircraft will be capable of at first flight) and the plan for achieving the full scope of the SOIU

identification of updates to organisational approvals and authorisations required to apply for type certificate or deliver in-service support (eg IAW DASR 21 SUBPART J and MTCH)

Engine and aircraft structural integrity program content. This section should identify Aircraft and Engine Structural Integrity Management Plan (ie ASIMP and ESIMP) requirements and scheduling; and which organisation(s) is/are responsible for their development.

Continuing Airworthiness aspects. This section should describe the Continuing Airworthiness DASA authorisations required to operate the capability after IIS and beyond, including the required tasks, resources, scheduling; and organisation(s) responsible for developing the applications. Detailed planning with respect to how the authorisations will be achieved may be described in the ASAMP or further developed in the ASAMP CAMO annex, including: 

identification of new organisational approvals and authorisations required (IAW DASR M, 145, 147) or variation to such

systems for granting personnel authorisations and licences (IAW DASR 66).

Flight Operations aspects. This section should describe the DASA authorisations required to satisfy flight operations requirements for IIS and beyond. This section does not need to detail exactly how the CM/MAO will develop each element. However, it should include:

Organisational authorisations. This may also include variation of existing organisation authorisations of the OpSpec.

Flying Management System. This section should describe how the MAO will develop or modify the flying management system in compliance with DASR ORO.10.

MAO OIP. Usually, aircraft specific OIP will accompany the delivery or modification of aircraft. OIP includes the Aircraft Flight Manual (AFM) and Minimum Equipment List (MEL), as well as MAO developed OIP such as Checklists, Flying Orders, SFI, SI (OPS), STANMAN. OIP requiring DASA authorisations are the AFM, AMP, MMEL and MEL.

Specific Approvals. Some types of operations require Specific Approval from DASA (e.g. PBN, RVSM, use of EVIS). Where the SOIU includes these types of operations, the ASAMP should present a plan showing who is responsible for developing the application to DASA and when this activity is scheduled. CM/MAO/SPO liaison with DASA to establish timelines is important to ensure that the necessary authorisations are in place prior to first operational use relating to the Specific Approval.

Specific limitations. Acquisition projects may introduce a new aircraft with a narrower scope of operations than that described in the SOIU. In these cases, the ASAMP should acknowledge any Specific Limitations to the SOIU scope at IIS. This will support development of the initial OpSpec annex.

Aircrew training and categorisation schemes. This section should describe the plan for the initial aircrew cadre as well as any arrangements for the mature training system.

Flight Simulation Training Device. If a CM/MAO is acquiring a Flight Simulation Training Device, this section should describe basic details (number, type, location, operator) and key schedule milestones.

Establishing Safety Management Systems. Acquisition or major change projects require a number of stakeholders to establish safety programs associated with Initial Airworthiness, Continuing Airworthiness and flight operations, such as:

system safety programs

hazardous materials programs 

flight operations risk management plans. 

The ASAMP should outline the interfaces and information sharing arrangements between the relevant stakeholders’ Safety Management Systems (SMS) to address the management of risk, and transfer of retained risks, into the existing MAO’s SMS through acquisition and into sustainment.

DASA authorisation low-level planning 

CM/MAO’s are encouraged to document the low-level planning for achieving each DASA authorisation in annexes to the ASAMP. These low-level planning annexes should identify the key tasks, their indicative schedule and key stakeholders for each task that the CM/MAO needs to accomplish in order to gain the required DASA authorisation. Lastly, if the CM/MAO is proposing novel organisational structures or Alternative Means Of Compliance to achieve a particular DASA authorisation, then the relevant ASAMP annex should describe these arrangements in sufficient detail for DASA to evaluate their potential effectiveness. 

Coordination and scheduling. The specific tasks required by the DASRs to achieve each DASA Authorisation often do not occur in isolation with other aviation safety activities (e.g. type certification, operational test and evaluation, initial training). Therefore, developers of the ASAMP should anticipate some tasks being stand alone, and others being dependent on outcomes from other streams of work during acquisition. The Integrated Product Manager (or similar role) should incorporate tasks and time to complete associated with DASA authorisation development into the overall acquisition program. 

For this reason, some ASAMPs may break DASA authorisation compliance into a number of discrete work packages that can be incorporated into the aircraft acquisition or modification programs Work Break-down Structure (WBS) and schedule into tools like Open Plan Professional. This detailed planning should be documented within the relevant ASAMP annex for each DASA authorisation, and provide sufficient scheduling information such that the applicant, CM/MAO and DASA can identify when applications, plans, artefacts will be submitted to DASA for approval; and when the applicant anticipates a return.

Annex content. The content of each ASAMP annex is scalable to the project. Table 1 provides suggested content with a supporting DASPMAN reference.

Table 1: Annex content

ASAMP updates or variation. The acquisition environment is dynamic and projects often need to change the acquisition strategy and plans in response to external events. Therefore, it is likely that the Integrated Program Management Plan will diverge from the agreed ASAMP over time. Applicants should periodically update the ASAMP so it remains relevant. Specifically, applicants should update the ASAMP if the project significantly changes the structure or scope of aviation safety authorisations. For example, if the initial ASAMP involved obtaining an MTC before IIS, and a delay occurs such that initial operations will actually commence under a MPTF, then then an ASAMP update is appropriate. 

DASA recommends the CM/MAO provide an updated ASAMP as part of the application for initial (or variation to an) OpSpec for a new (or modified) capability. This updated ASAMP should reflect the status of the acquisition program, including details of work completed and re-programing of remaining activities. The ASAMP should provide an impact statement and reference out to risk management where tasks associated with initial-flight under DASR are incomplete. 

Endorsement and approval

ASAMP. The IIS of a new aircraft system will involve a number of organisations to achieve the operational, technical, logistic and safety management outcomes articulated in the ASAMP. Accordingly, the SPO should identify the relevant stakeholder organisations, and seek their endorsement prior to approving the ASAMP. At minimum, stakeholders should include CM representative, MAO-AM, SPO Director, DG-DASA, and Environmental Commander. Additional stakeholder signatories identified by the SPO should be a minimum of O6/equivalent or above. 

Each endorsement will assess the supportability from a stakeholder organisation resource and scheduling perspective of the overarching aviation safety acquisition strategy articulated by the ASAMP, as well as its suitability for achieving the desired IIS outcomes. Following ASAMP endorsement by all relevant stakeholders, approval of the ASAMP should be sought from the relevant one-star/equivalent CASG Branch representative (e.g. DG ASR for MC-55). 

ASAMP annexes. As detailed in Para 20, where a MAO/SPO has elected to include low-level planning annexes for each DASA authorisation, the MAO/SPO should identify relevant DASA authorisation stakeholders (including within DASA) for ASAMP annex endorsement and MAO approval. DASA recommends that stakeholders be a minimum of O5/equivalent or above, DASA stakeholders will typically be the Director of the relevant DASA Directorate responsible for issuing the specific DASA authorisation. Stakeholder endorsement should consider the supportability and suitability of the work breakdown structure and associated responsibilities and resources supporting achievement of the relevant DASA authorisation. 

DASA endorsement of individual ASAMP Annexes will consider the suitability of the proposed low-level plans for achieving the specific DASA Authorisation, and alignment with the higher-level ASAMP. It will also assess the supportability from a DASA directorate resource and scheduling perspective of the DASA task elements within each ASAMP annex. 

Should a stakeholder review identify a misalignment with the higher-level ASAMP, the ASAMP annex should not be endorsed until the ASAMP is amended to restore alignment.