Date of Award
3-21-2013
Document Type
Thesis
Degree Name
Master of Science
Department
Department of Mathematics and Statistics
First Advisor
Edward D. White, PhD.
Abstract
As the arsenal of weapons managed by the Department of Defense (DoD) ages, the country's leadership is forced to make decisions regarding what to do with current and projected funding to maintain military defensive and offensive capabilities. The acquisition community at many levels has stated that O&S costs are about 70 percent of the total life-cycle costs of the average system, the other 30 percent being spent in the acquisition phase. This golden ratio does not appear to come from empirical evidence. There has been little research into the actual ratio of O&S-to-acquisition costs. This research found a significant departure from the golden ratio in currently fielded systems. Using 37 Air Force, Navy, and Joint programs, the average program was estimated to realize around 55 percent of its costs in the O&S phase, though this does not come close to telling the whole story. Significant deviances from this 55 percent average were seen in most of the weapon system categories analyzed due to many factors, such as life expectancy, acquisition strategy, and level of annual sustainment costs. Due to these significant differences, using a single ratio to describe the cost envelope of the average weapon system is not recommended.
AFIT Designator
AFIT-ENC-13-M-01
DTIC Accession Number
ADA580758
Recommended Citation
Jones, Gary L., "Investigation into the Ratio of System Operations and Support Costs to Life-Cycle Costs for Department of Defense Weapon Systems" (2013). Theses and Dissertations. 955.
https://scholar.afit.edu/etd/955