MAINTAIN EQUIPMENT PUBLICATIONS/UPDATE PARTS MANUAL:
(AR 25-30, para 1-27h) Revise or change technical publications to include mission-essential contingency items. The Commanding General (CG), Army Materiel Command (AMC), Corps of Engineers (COE), and The Surgeon General (TSG) will base their decisions to change or revise technical publications on—
(1) The importance of the equipment or system.
(2) The urgency of need, anticipated economic useful life, and length of time the equipment or system will be retained in the Department of Defense (DOD) inventory.
(3) Compliance with established standards.
Every five years, a Level of Repair Analysis (LORA) must be performed, and equipment publications must be updated as required to reflect any maintenance level, Maintenance Allocation Chart, Repair Parts and Special Tools List, and maintenance procedure changes. At the time of technical manual (TM) revision, determine the cost effectiveness of conversion to digital form in accordance with Military Standard 2361 (MIL-STD-2361). When revising technical and equipment publications for older, low-density, or near obsolete equipment, the publication’s original format will be used if conversion is not cost effective.
When corrections are made to provisioning data that require corresponding corrections in the Repair Parts and Special Tools List (RPSTL) technical manual, a change or revision to the RPSTL will be produced.
Before scheduling such revisions and starting work, the proponent must coordinate with and receive written approval from the U.S. Army Training and Doctrine Command (TRADOC) element representing the user. Proponents must define requirements for revision of such publications in the appropriate contract statement of work. Contracts will not cite obsolete or canceled specifications used to prepare the current edition.
During the life of the program, the Life Cycle Management Command (LCMC) publications proponent collects approved changes to equipment publications and produces page changes and revisions, in order to keep the publications up-to-date. Upon initiation, changes and revisions are scheduled through the Equipment Publications Control Officer, in accordance with AMC-R 25-76.
Some LCMC publications programs produce in-house changes and revisions, but most programs contract for changes and revisions. Safety-related changes must be made immediately. Routine changes are usually “blocked”; i.e., changes and corrections are collected until there are enough to warrant a change or revision. Programs that routinely have many updates often choose to publish changes or revisions on a regular basis, according to a change cycle they have established. Most equipment publications corrections come from approved DA Form 2028, Recommended Change to Equipment Publications, from the field and from modifications and approved Engineering Change Proposals (ECP).
Required for: Sustainment of Army equipment publications throughout the life of the system/equipment.
When Required: Safety-related changes must be made immediately. Routine corrections are collected until there are enough to warrant a change, or until the regular change cycle, if the program has chosen to publish changes on a regular basis, according to a change cycle they have established. Analysis to determine whether equipment publications is required every 18 months, at a minimum, and, as appropriate, revising the publication every 3 years.
Responsibility: The Army Life Cycle Management Command’s (LCMC) equipment publications proponent, through the LCMC Equipment Publications Control Officer.
References: AR 25-30, DA Pam 25-40, AMC-R 25-76.