Do Joint Fighter Programs Save Money?

The U.S. Department of Defense (DoD) has launched or attempted to launch numerous joint fighter and other joint aircraft programs in the past 50 years. The largest and most recent is the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter (JSF), which was designed for use by the U.S. Air Force, U.S. Navy, U.S. Marine Corps,...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Lorell, Mark A, Kennedy, Michael, Leonard, Robert S, Munson, Ken, Abramzon, Shmuel, An, David L, Guffey, Robert A
Format: Report
Language:English
Subjects:
AIR FORCE
AIRCRAFT DESIGN
AIRCRAFT INDUSTRY
Attack and Fighter Aircraft
COST BENEFIT ANALYSIS
COST GROWTH
COST OVERRUNS
DIVERSE SERVICE REQUIREMENTS
Economics and Cost Analysis
F-35 AIRCRAFT
FIGHTER AIRCRAFT
HISTORY
JOINT AIRCRAFT PROGRAMS
JOINT FIGHTER PROGRAMS
JOINT MILITARY ACTIVITIES
JOINT STRIKE FIGHTER
LIFE CYCLE COSTS
Logistics, Military Facilities and Supplies
MARINE CORPS
MILESTONE B
MILITARY PROCUREMENT
MILITARY REQUIREMENTS
NAVY
OPERATIONAL RISK
OPERATIONS AND SUPPORT COSTS
RISK
SAVINGS
SINGLE-SERVICE AIRCRAFT PROGRAMS
SINGLE-SERVICE FIGHTER PROGRAMS
STRATEGIC RISK
STRUCTURAL COMMONALITY
WARFIGHTER RISK
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Summary:The U.S. Department of Defense (DoD) has launched or attempted to launch numerous joint fighter and other joint aircraft programs in the past 50 years. The largest and most recent is the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter (JSF), which was designed for use by the U.S. Air Force, U.S. Navy, U.S. Marine Corps, and international partners and is currently in low-rate initial production. The main purpose of a joint program, versus a set of single-service programs, is to save overall Life Cycle Cost (LCC) by eliminating duplicate research, development, test, and evaluation (RDT&E) efforts and achieving economies of scale in procurement and operations and support (O&S). Yet, the need to integrate multiple service requirements in a single design increases the complexity of joint programs and potentially leads to higher-than-average cost growth that could reduce or even negate potential savings. There have been no comprehensive assessments of costs and savings in historical joint aircraft programs based on actual joint aircraft program outcomes and historical cost data. To help inform future acquisition strategies for fighter aircraft, the commander of Air Force Materiel Command (AFMC) asked RAND Project Air Force (PAF) to analyze the costs and benefits of historical joint aircraft programs, from the early 1960s through today's JSF. The project addressed five major questions: Have historical joint aircraft programs saved LCC compared with comparable single-service aircraft programs?; Is JSF on track to save LCC compared with notional equivalent single-service fighter programs?; What factors contributed to cost outcomes in historical joint aircraft programs, as well as JSF?; What are the implications of a joint aircraft approach for the industrial base?; and What are the implications of a joint aircraft approach for operational and strategic risk?