Maintenance inspection capabilities and requirements

(a) Requirement Subject to the requirements of subsection (b), the Secretary of Defense shall ensure that when the Department of Defense conducts maintenance of aviation critical safety items and mission critical parts, such maintenance— (1) includes the use of a technical data requirement or organic or commercially available diagnostic tool, if such a requirement or tool is required and available; and (2) is not conducted solely through visual inspection unless— (A) no such requirement or tool is available; or (B) only a visual inspection is required under a technical data requirement. (b) Sustainment The Secretary shall ensure that the acquisition of appropriate technical data requirements and diagnostic tools for the conduct of maintenance of aviation critical safety items and mission critical parts are planned as part of the sustainment of the systems containing such items and parts. (c) Definitions In this section: (1) The term aviation critical safety item means any part, assembly, installation equipment, launch equipment, recovery equipment, or support equipment for an aircraft or aviation weapon system the failure, malfunction, or absence of which could cause— (A) a catastrophic or critical failure resulting in the loss of or serious damage to the aircraft or weapon system; (B) an unacceptable risk of personal injury or loss of life; or (C) an uncommanded engine shutdown that jeopardizes safety. (2) The term corrosion means the deterioration of a material or its properties, including non-metallic materials, due to a reaction of that material with the chemical environment. (3) The term diagnostic tool means a non-destructive inspection tool capable of— (A) detecting corrosion, cracks, component damage, adhesion failure, and standard wear and tear; and (B) leveraging artificial intelligence and machine learning to build a predictive maintenance database when necessary to improve maintainability.