Improving Annual Fixed Wing Aircraft Maintenance Cost Estimates Through Cost Estimating Relationships
Abstract
The Air Force executes its mission primarily through the use of fixed-wing aircrafts. Maintaining these aircrafts represents approximately one-third of annual Operating and Support costs; which in turn, make up the majority of Life Cycle Costs. The current approach to estimating aircraft maintenance costs does not take into consideration programmatic data available in the Air Force Total Ownership Cost (AFTOC) database. The four maintenance cost subcategories researched in this thesis are Consumable Materials and Repair Parts, Depot Level Repairables (DLRs), Depot Maintenance, and Contractor Logistic Support. Each of these cost categories must first be standardized to be able to compare costs across years and across airframes. Through regression, this research attempts to determine cost drivers within maintenance cost subcategories and build predictive models for annual maintenance costs. Upon validating the models, they did not prove to provide better estimates than the currently used method of applying a 2 increase factor. They do however, provide a framework for further research into possible cost driving variables maintained outside of AFTOC.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Mar 23, 2018
- Accession Number
- AD1055907
Entities
People
- Kirsten Bunecke
Organizations
- Air Force Institute of Technology