Valuing Programmed Depot Maintenance Speed: An Analysis of F-15 PDM

Edward G. Keating ; Elvira N. Loredo

RAND Corporation

RAND Corporation

关键词: Aircraft;    National Security;    Military Aircraft;    Economists;    Military Logistics;   

ISBN  :  978-0-8330-3968-2
RP-ID  :  TR-377-AF

学科分类：自然科学（综合）

美国|英语

来源: RAND Corporation Published Research

【 摘 要 】

Part of a larger RAND Project Air Force study on capability-based programming, this report introduces a revealed preference methodology to estimate the value to the United States Air Force of expediting F-15 fighter jet programmed depot maintenance (PDM). Such a valuation estimate would be useful in depot-level cost-benefit analysis. The authors rely on the fact that the Air Force has chosen to pay for intermittent PDM on F-15s to assert that F-15s must have enough value after PDM visits to justify PDM costs. Air Force expenditure data suggest that a typical fiscal year 2005 PDM visit cost about $3.2 million. Using the aircraft valuation curves consistent with PDM being worthwhile, the authors find that expediting an F-15’s last PDM visit by a month must be worth at least $60,000. However, using a plausible annual aircraft valuation decline rate, they find that expediting an old F-15’s last PDM visit by a month would be worth around $75,000, while expediting a new F-15’s first PDM visit by a month would be worth more than $180,000. This report also explores various robustness enhancements. Consideration of aging aircraft issues, for instance, tends to increase the estimated value of expedited PDM.