Cost Estimating Methodology for Advanced Air Vehicles

Historically, the Air Vehicle Technology industry has developed technologies based upon performance and, to a much lesser extent, the cost of individual technologies. The public and government will no longer justify and support these costs inlight of a perception that the enemy has been defeated. Emphasis of Science and Technology efforts must now be on system affordability. Further "gray beards" or "wisdom figures" within the government are retiring with a significant loss in corporate memory. The resulting out flux of experienced personnel and the increasing need to incorporate affordable technologies to either revolutionize capability or simply extend operational life creates an indisputable need for an easy to use set of tools to assess new technology investment costs and affordability before any large expenditure of resources or funds. The objective of this SBIR is to develop and demonstrate such a PC based software tool which can be used by relatively inexperienced personnel, to quickly and easily assess new technology investment costs ande affordability in terms of meeting technology thrust goals and Return On Investment (ROI) targets. Phase II will fully develop the tool and expand its use for other services and agencies as well as commercial applications.