An analysis was made of tactical aircraft capability based on SAMSOM II simulations of actual C-130E operational data, for Project COMBAT SAMPLE. Demonstrated capability ranges from 5.4 to 6.3 hours per aircraft day. Simulations suggest that the higher figure could be attained at the cost of (1) severe degradation of missions, (2) virtual elimination of reserve capability, and (3) a shortage of maintenance specialists. Elimination of residual emergency aircraft in favor of higher utilization imposes value-judgment problems on airlift managers. To aid them, simulations can construct tradeoff curves that permit comparison of various utilization capabilities with corresponding residuals. The shortage of maintenance specialists could be alleviated by (1) spreading maintenance personnel among the main operating base and forward operating locations and (2) balancing crew chief and specialist manpower spaces. Estimates of wartime airlift capabilities depend on many interrelated factors, including utilization and ACL, available aircraft, resource mix, and priority requirements. (Author)
C-130E Tactical Airlift Capability: Combat Sample Simulations
1969
68 pages
Report
No indication
English
Aircraft , Military Operations, Strategy, & Tactics , Transport planes , Air transportation , Tactical air support , Air force operations , Statistical processes , Simulation , Maintenance , Mission profiles , Maintenance personnel , C-130E aircraft , C-130 aircraft , Computerized simulation , COMBAT SAMPLE project