Maintaining Experience in Military R&D.
Abstract
With the continuing contraction of the aerospace industry, defense planners may need to implement special measures to maintain the industry's capacity to meet future military R&D requirements. RAND has been doing research on this problem for the last five years and was a pioneer in pointing to the importance of consciously maintaining development capability as the number of new military development projects dwindles to one or two at the turn of the century. Recent research continues in that tradition by focusing on the role of experience in maintaining key technologies and skills needed to preserve the defense industry base. In Bomber R&D Since 1945: The Role of Experience, Mark Lorell reviews the historical record of major prime contractors in developing new bomber aircraft and attempts to determine the significance of established R&D experience in building and maintaining a competitive design and development capability for such aircraft. Focusing on the development of bombers from the early 1940s to the mid-1990s, the authors conclude that existing expertise in bomber R&D was a critical factor behind the success of those U.S. prime contractors that made the most significant contributions during this period.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Dec 01, 1995
- Accession Number
- ADA322391
Entities
Organizations
- RAND Corporation