Military Jet Engine Acquisition: Technology Basics and Cost-Estimating Methodology
Abstract
Good cost estimates contribute significantly to an effective acquisition policy. RAND has a long history of producing cost-estimating methodologies for military jet engines. Two of RAND's more recent studies of turbine engine costs are Nelson (1977) and Birkler, Garfinkle, and Marks (1982). This report updates those earlier studies by incorporating cost and technical data on recent engine development and production efforts. We analyzed this information and produced a set of parametric relationships to estimate turbofan engine development costs, development schedules, and unit production costs. In this analysis, we have extended and improved upon earlier RAND analyses in two key ways: The previous RAND studies grouped turbojet and turbofan engines into the same population. To provide a more homogeneous population, we focused exclusively on parametric relationships for turbofan engines in this study (because pure turbo-jet engines are largely no longer used in modern aircraft). In the previous studies, it was often not clear how the data from a particular engine family was treated. In our analysis, we treat each model (or "dash number") as a separate observation. We explicitly consider how derivative engines relate to first-of-a-kind engines.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Jan 01, 2002
- Accession Number
- ADA411857
Entities
People
- Joanna Mason
- Mark Lorell
- Mark V. Arena
- Obaid Younossi
- Richard M. Moore
Organizations
- RAND Corporation