Research for Requirements

This study reviews three problem areas of aircraft engine maintenance in the Navy: the setting of maximum operating times, the performance of overhauls for cause instead of repairs, and the site of engine repair. All of the problem areas affect in some way the number of engine overhauls performed annually. The study assesses the effectiveness of engine overhaul from a safety and reliability standpoint by analyzing Navy data on engine-related aircraft mishaps and engine removals. The analysis revealed that within the current range of operations engines wear in but under current policies of continued repair/replacement and relatively short times between overhauls, engines as a system do not wear out. Consequently, policies which would decrease the number of overhauls performed annually and increase the time between overhauls appear to be reasonable from a reliability and safety standpoint. Using a model of the engine repair and overhaul pipeline, the study finds that three new policies, two of which would increase the time between overhauls, result in lower annual maintenance costs and improved spare engine availability.

The Aircraft Force Projection Model (AFPM) is designed to project the Navy's aircraft inventory over a ten-year period and attempts to satisfy the operating requirements of a given set of forces with the projected operating inventory. In addition the AFPM generates useful characteristics of the aircraft inventory such as projections of the age distributions, attrition quantities, pipeline requirements, and rework requirements. This volume describes the input data file, file maintenance procedures, and how to run the model. The Aircraft Force Projection Model (AFPM) is documented in two volumes. Volume I, The Users Guide, describes the input data file, file maintenance procedures, and how to run the model. Volume II, The Programmers Guide, contains a detailed explanation of the AFPM computer programs and program listings.

This paper examines the economic issues involved in the imposition of liability for the damages caused by disasters in general and major oil spills in particular.

The purpose of this analysis is to determine the relationship between the cost of the resource inputs employed by Naval aviation squadrons and the level of output produced by them. A production function, relating the level of squadron output to the levels of inputs used, is estimated econometrically, using nonlinear estimation techniques. The combination of inputs producing the maximum output, given a budget constraint, is then determined analytically.