Explainer
Level of Repair Analysis (LORA) Explained
What It Is
The Repair-or-Discard Decision
Level of repair analysis, usually shortened to LORA, is the part of a product's support planning that settles who fixes what, and whether fixing is worth it at all. SAE AS1390 describes it as a set of general requirements and specific activities performed during the life cycle of products or equipment; done in a logical and iterative way, those activities make up the LORA process.
It sits inside the wider logistic support analysis effort. In the SX000i framework, the level of repair results are part of the LSA database that is the single source for technical publications, as described in our guide to the integrated product support elements.
The Questions
What the Analysis Decides
Stripped to its decisions, the analysis answers three questions for each repairable item:
- Repair or discard
- For each item that could be fixed, is it worth fixing, or should it be thrown away and replaced? An item that is discarded needs a spare on the shelf and no repair procedure at all.
- Which level repairs it
- If it is repaired, who does it: the operator or crew, a field maintenance unit, a sustainment or depot facility? The answer decides which tools, test equipment, skills, and facilities each level must have.
- Whether to replace or to repair in place
- The same fault can be cleared by swapping a whole assembly at one level and repairing that assembly at another. The analysis sets where the swap happens and where the repair happens.
The Standard
SAE AS1390
The standard for the analysis is SAE AS1390, Level of Repair Analysis (LORA). The original edition was issued on 15 April 2014 and is now marked historical on the SAE site. AS1390A, issued on 4 April 2023, is the current revision.
Programs rarely cite the analysis in isolation. The contract will name the standard or handbook it wants, the data it wants delivered, and the form the results take. Read the text of the contract and its data requirements for those, and check the edition: a program written around an older document may not point at the current one.
The Handoff
Where the Results Go
For a manual author, the analysis matters because its decisions surface in four places:
- The maintenance allocation chart
- The MAC assigns each task to a level. Where the analysis said a task belongs at the field level, that is what the chart should show.
- The SMR code on each part
- The repair position of the source, maintenance, and recoverability code says whether an item is repaired or discarded and at what level, and the recoverability position says what happens when it is beyond repair.
- The parts list and provisioning
- An item designated discard at every level appears as a replaceable part and is bought as a spare. An item designated repairable also needs its own piece parts and support items.
- Maintenance procedures
- A repair at a given level needs a procedure in that level's manual, with the right tool and parts callouts. A discard decision needs only a removal and replacement procedure.
In the Manual
Keeping Manuals and Analysis in Step
Under the Army's two-level system, AR 750-1 says the maintenance allocation chart specifies the tasks performed at each level; our guide to PMCS and the maintenance allocation chart shows how that chart and the SMR code on each part are meant to agree. The SMR code format, and the parts list it sits in, are covered in the illustrated parts catalog and RPSTL guide. Items in the list then reach supply through National Stock Numbers and provisioning.
For the S-Series route to the same analysis data, see the S3000L data model guide and the S3000L standard page.
The failure to watch for is drift. If a part is coded as repairable at a level but no procedure exists in that level's manual, or the chart shows a task the parts list cannot support, one of the three was changed without the others. Checking each part's code against the chart and the procedures during review catches it before a maintainer does.
FAQ
Common Questions
What is level of repair analysis?
An analysis that determines, for the items in a product, whether each should be repaired or discarded when it fails and, if repaired, at which maintenance level. SAE AS1390 describes it as a process made up of specific activities performed during the life cycle of products or equipment. It is one part of the wider logistic support analysis effort.
Is it the same as LoRA in machine learning?
No. The abbreviation overlaps with an unrelated technique in machine learning, which is why searches for the short form return AI results. This page is about the maintenance and logistics analysis, which is why we write out the full phrase, level of repair analysis.
What standard governs level of repair analysis?
SAE AS1390, Level of Repair Analysis (LORA). The original edition was issued on 15 April 2014 and is marked historical; AS1390A, issued on 4 April 2023, is the current revision. Read the contract to see which document and edition a program actually cites.
How is it different from logistic support analysis?
Logistic support analysis is the broad study of what a product will need in service. Level of repair analysis is one decision inside it, the repair-or-discard and where-to-repair question, and its answers feed other parts of the analysis, such as the tasks, spares, and support equipment each level needs.
Does it decide the maintenance allocation chart?
It supplies the basis. The MAC states which level performs each task, and the repair decision for each item is one of the inputs that should agree with it. Program rules and the contract set how the two are produced and reconciled, so read the text of your contract rather than assume the order.
Who needs to read it?
Anyone who writes or reviews maintenance manuals and parts lists. Authors do not usually perform the analysis, but they inherit its decisions: which tasks to write, at which level, and which parts to list as spares.
