Development, production and life cycle cost assessments for a military transatmospheric vehicle (TAV)
- RAND Corporation 1700 Main Street Santa Monica, California90407-2138 (United States)
Transatmospheric Vehicles (TAVs) are envisioned as a new type of reusable launch vehicle (RLV) which could insert themselves or payloads into low earth orbit (LEO) or deliver payloads to distant targets within minutes. Such a vehicle may carry out military, civil, and commercial missions. This paper focuses specifically on two promising military TAV design concepts. Research, development, test and evaluation (RDT&E) costs are estimated for these concepts which include producing both demonstrator and prototype (i.e., X and Y) vehicles during the development phase. A total life cycle cost (LCC) budget forecast is generated for one TAV and for a fleet of six operational military TAVs. The total number of TAV launches provided over the assumed service life of the vehicle fleet are compared to the number provided by an expendable launch vehicle (ELV) for the same total projected budget. The costing methodology used is described along with suggested implementation strategies that could potentially reduce the level of government investment needed for this system acquisition. {copyright} {ital 1997 American Institute of Physics.}
- Sponsoring Organization:
- USDOE
- OSTI ID:
- 627625
- Report Number(s):
- CONF-970115-; ISSN 0094-243X; TRN: 9808M0041
- Journal Information:
- AIP Conference Proceedings, Vol. 387, Issue 1; Conference: Space technology and applications international forum (STAIF - 97), Albuquerque, NM (United States), 26-30 Jan 1997; Other Information: PBD: Jan 1997
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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