The aviation logistics system supports worldwide aviation operations with a wide range of resources. It provides services to the operational force along functional lines--maintenance, supply, transportation, procurement, support planning, and many subordinate services. It is involved in every phase of the life cycle of a weapon system and in every facet of aviation operations. In the face of this complexity, there is a need for enhanced integration across resource classes, functions, and weapon systems to ensure that the aviation logistics system delivers maximal peacetime readiness and combat sustainability with a specified level of resources. Moreover, resource allocations need to be consistent with the levels of readiness and sustainability reflected in the POM. A basic purpose of the PPBS is to allocate the mix of logistics support resources needed to deliver specified levels of readiness and sustainability, and to specify those levels of readiness and sustainability in light of their costs. In this Note, the concept of the PPBS is extended to include budget execution and the day-to-day management of logistics operations because of the need for consistency in execution and management with the other stages of the process.

This Note discusses current stockage policies and computational techniques in naval aviation and argues that the use of a weapon system availability objective function coupled with multi-echelon optimization techniques could result in substantial improvements in system performance at current levels of investment. A demonstration is included that compares the estimated performance of the stockage posture resulting from an emulation of the Navy's current computational methods with that of alternative methods. They Navy's technique of minimizing the sum of holding plus shortage costs subject to a fill rate constraint is shown to be dominated by each of the alternative computational approaches. Additional research and implementation issues are also discussed.

The Department of Defense is developing the means to transform the nation's armed forces to meet future military challenges. For the Navy and Marine Corps, this vision is encompassed in Naval Power 21. Many new war-fighting concepts will be needed to implement this vision, and the ONR has requested the NRC to identify new science and technology opportunities for new naval aviation capabilities to support those concepts. This report presents an assessment of what they imply for naval aviation, an analysis of some capabilities that, if developed, would make a significant contribution to realizing those concepts, and an identification of key technologies in which ONR could invest to achieve those capabilities. In particular, the report focuses on seven key capabilities: multispectral defense, unmanned air operations, hypersonic weapons delivery, fast-kill weapons, heavy-lift air transport, intelligent combat information management, and omniscient intelligence.

Naval Aviation is beginning a transformation into a new era of logistics support. The beginning of a U.S. Navy/Industry teaming effort started with the U.S. Navy's F/A-18 E/F program. The new aircraft is supported through both standard military logistics programs and a brand new commercial logistics application known as F/A-18 E/F Integrated Readiness Support Teaming (FIRST). The non-traditional contract with Boeing is intended to outsource some maintenance, supply and inventory control for the new aircraft onto Boeing. The intended benefits behind the new concept include reduced costs, increased supply responsiveness and greater efficiency through commercial logistics applications. Promising increased aircraft readiness and seamless implementation, both Boeing and U.S. Navy representatives have great expectations for the new system. Our research investigates the impact FIRST is having on F/A-18 E/F Operational Availability (Ao) through an evaluation of Supply Response Times (SRT) and actual squadron Mission Capability Rates for the period of 01 April 2002 through 30 June 2002. Our results suggest that although repairable parts are currently delivered more quickly through the FIRST program, the contract measurement of SRT may not reflect any long the improvements in F/A-18 E/F readiness.