Measuring Technological Change in Jet Fighter Aircraft.

Abstract

This report develops technique to characterize level of and change in jet fighter air vehicle technology. It complements other methods used to assess technological risks of new fighter concepts and to compare U.S. and foreign fighter technology. The technique uses multiple regression to relate time of appearance of an aircraft design to its level of technology. Resulting expressions measure performance consequences of technological advance in terms of such parameters as specific power, sustained load factor, Breguet range, and payload fraction. Measured in these terms, the rate of advance U.S. fighter air vehicle technology is declining. The monetary cost of increasing the rate of advance could be very high. In the future, designers will have to balance increasingly difficult improvements in air vehicle technology against improvements in other technologies (such as avionics or armament) that also enhance combat effectiveness.

Open PDF

Document Details

Document Type
Technical Report
Publication Date
Sep 01, 1979
Accession Number
ADA077393

Entities

People

  • Michael D. Miller
  • William L. Stanley

Organizations

  • RAND Corporation

Tags

Communities of Interest

  • Air Platforms

DTIC Thesaurus Topics

  • Air Force
  • Aircraft Equipment
  • Aircraft Industry
  • Aircrafts
  • Airframes
  • Coefficients
  • Databases
  • Fighter Aircraft
  • Payload
  • Regression Analysis
  • Short Takeoff Aircraft
  • Statistical Analysis
  • Swept Wings
  • Turbines
  • Turbofan Engines
  • United States
  • Warfare

Readers

  • Aerospace Engineering
  • Life Cycle Cost Analysis
  • Systems Analysis and Design