As the Air Force fields new aircraft, decision-makers require advanced modeling and data-driven metrics to optimize resource allocation, sustainment, and operations. How can the Air Force develop a relatively high-fidelity simulation of an average year of training for a unit (ideally the KC-46 or F-35) to generate comparative metrics that can directly inform strategic basing decisions for the aircraft fielding process?
In conjunction with evaluating these long-term basing options, these simulations must also account for critical sustainment factors, primarily operational energy. How can these high-fidelity simulations of unit training be used to develop better models of fuel usage that can better inform mission planning tools? Furthermore, how can these simulated models provide reliable benchmarks for fuel usage to enable anomaly detection during both real-time execution and post-mission analysis?
Ultimately, integrating fuel usage benchmarks into an average training year simulation should provide planners with comprehensive, data-driven comparative metrics to optimize both the strategic basing of the future fleet and the daily mission planning of its operational units.
- Price, Maj. Christopher, "CORONET Improvements: Increasing Fuel Economy and Reducing Tanker Requirements," GCPME thesis, 2022, 40 pgs.
- Schell, Samuel, et al, "BBP on Fuel Saving Educational Solutions for the Future Fight," SOS AUAR, 2024, 23 pgs.