I never cease to be astonished at the "serviceability" figures of military aircraft. If a civvy 40 yr old S61 fleet did not have a despatch reliability of, what, 95% the chief engineer would be sacked.
I had a friend who owned a gazelle which he flew for nearly 1000 hrs before selling it - and if it ever broke down I don't remember it. The red and white gazelles I trained on were pretty good too.
Clearly role equipment differences accounts for much of the trouble, but as Widgeon said, hoping for 80% (hoping, fer Chrissakes!!) is like your car won't start one day in 5. That is so appalling!
The big aluminium death-tubes I fly hardly ever go wrong, they are working 18 - 19hrs per day, and are very complex beasts. They receive barely an hour or so of attention every night, that's all.
If civvies can do it, why can't the military? The machines are, after all, all built by civvies and often by the same company as the airliners, Twin Squirrels and Pumas that haul holidaymakers, police and rig workers with clockwork reliability...
There is a huge disparity here. Any explanation?