What does sustainment maintenance usually involve?

Sustainment maintenance primarily focuses on the repair and return of off-system components to ensure that they are fully functional and integrated back into the supply chain. This process is crucial for maintaining operational readiness, as it involves taking components that require repair or overhaul, performing the necessary work, and then returning those components to inventory for future use.

Understanding sustainment maintenance in this context is essential, as it emphasizes the importance of a systematic approach to maintaining equipment and system readiness over time. This type of maintenance is not about routine checks or daily inspections, which are typically associated with operations and immediate troubleshooting on-site. Instead, it involves more extensive repairs that may require specific facilities or expertise beyond the capabilities available in the field.

Training on maintenance procedures is important but falls under the category of ensuring personnel are equipped with the knowledge to perform maintenance tasks rather than the actual repair and logistics function of sustainment maintenance.