A Method for Estimating Operation and Support Cost of Uninhabited Combat Air Vehicles

Because of unique operation and support concept of uninhabited combat air vehicles(UCAV) system compared with manned aircraft,the existing operation and support cost models of the manned aircraft cannot be used directly without being modified.Through the analysis of the operation and support characteristic of UCAV concept,analogy to the establishment of operation and support cost model of manned aircraft,an operation and support cost model for UCAV is established in this paper.The model is clear and suitable for the life cycle cost analysis of UCAV at the level of concept design previous to preliminary aircraft design.A calculation for comparison of operation and support cost between manned aircraft and UCAV is carried out,the numerical results show that UCAV is more affordable than manned aircraft.