Carrier air wing tactics : incorporating the Navy Unmanned Combat Air System (NUCAS)

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Authors
Gill, Travis J.
Subjects
Advisors
Sanchez, Susan M.
Date of Issue
2010-03
Date
Publisher
Monterey, California. Naval Postgraduate School
Language
Abstract
The United States Navy has established a Program Office for Acquisition, PMA-268, to develop the Navy Unmanned Combat Air System (NUCAS). The NUCAS will be a fighter-sized aircraft capable of a variety of missions including deep-strike, Intelligence Surveillance and Reconnaissance (ISR), Time Sensitive Targeting (TST) and Air-to-Air Refueling (AAR).The NUCAS will offer new capabilities to the operability of a Carrier Air Wing (CAW). Potential benefits include improvements in combat sortie completion rate for manned aircraft such as the F/A-18 Super Hornet and the F-35C Lighting II Joint Strike Fighter (JSF). In this thesis, we evaluate a strike scenario that focuses on the coordination of the NUCAS, the F/A-18 Super Hornet,and the F-35C Lightning II. We construct a simulation model of the scenario, and use a designed experiment to run 12,000 simulated coordinated strike events. We then use a variety of statistical and graphical tools to evaluate the result in order to determine the quantity of aircraft required for mission success, and operational factors necessary to limit friendly aircraft losses. The results indicate that a division of four NUCAS aircraft is advantageous, in terms of achieved high target casualty rates and high blue survivability rates. The results also highlight the necessity of stealth technology requirements in future aircraft development.
Type
Thesis
Description
Series/Report No
Department
Operations Research
Organization
Naval Postgraduate School (U.S.)
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NPS Report Number
Sponsors
Funder
Format
xx, 55 p. : col. ill. ;
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Distribution Statement
Approved for public release; distribution is unlimited.
Rights
This publication is a work of the U.S. Government as defined in Title 17, United States Code, Section 101. Copyright protection is not available for this work in the United States.
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