Operational analysis of the sustainability of a mobile military platform

Abstract

This thesis illustrates the use of simulation techniques to evaluate the satisfaction of suitability requirements for a mobile platform carrying payload (for example, an Unmanned Aerial Vehicle with sensors) on a military mission (surveillance or reconnaissance). The Institute for Defense Analyses, in support of Director, Operational Test & Evaluation (DOT&E), recently developed a simulation to assist in the analysis of the PREDATOR Unmanned Aerial Vehicle. That simulation has been extended to make it more applicable to a variety of platforms, and the extended simulation has been incorporated into the Military Aircraft Sustainability Simulation (MASS). The primary output from the simulation is Effective Time On Station (ETOS). ETOS is the long-run percentage of time that the region under surveillance is being covered by at least one operating platform. An analytical model for a single platform also has been developed to augment and assist in verifying the MASS. This thesis shows that MASS can be an invaluable tool for evaluating a platform's suitability for a mission. The Simulation can assist during the acquisition process, when the government must decide whether to buy a platform, and the simulation can assist in determining the most effective way to deploy such platforms once they are in use.