Paul Pappas

Date of Award

9-1991

Document Type

Thesis

Degree Name

Master of Science

Department

Department of Operational Sciences

First Advisor

Paul Auclair, Major, USAF

Abstract

This study used computer simulation to identify which tactical airlifter characteristics most significantly affected tactical airlift capability in a given scenario. The Generalized Air Mobility model was used to simulate a tactical airlift system. Aircraft characteristics within the model were grouped into six variables. A 2(6) two level full factorial experimental design was used to assess the effect of changes in aircraft characteristics on the effectiveness of the tactical airlift system. Yates algorithm was used to identify significant terms based upon the results of the factorial experiment. These significant terms were used to develop a parsimonious regression model that represented the response function of the experimental variables. The variables remaining in the regression model represented the tactical airlifter ' Characteristics that most significantly affected the capability of the tactical airlift system. Only one scenario was used in the experiment: Central America. scenario was characterized by a tropical mountainous environment, poor infrastructure, a limited number of major airfields, and many short unprepared airfields. Two groups of tactical airlifter characteristics were found to significantly a affect capability of the tactical airlift system in this scenario: The size of the aircraft's cargo bay, and the aircraft's ability to operate on unprepared surfaces.

AFIT Designator

AFIT-GLM-ENS-91S-50

DTIC Accession Number

ADA246908

Comments

The author's Vita page is omitted

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