Turbojet Range, Loiter, and Altitude Tradeoff Estimation in Efficient Modeling and Optimization Formulations

Identifying accurate tradeoffs between loiter time, range, and loiter altitude for jet aircraft are critical for mission planning, but current methods are cumbersome and time and labor intensive. This research introduces a new method for determining tradeoffs between loiter time, range, and loiter altitude for jet aircraft utilizing specific aircraft performance characteristics and the Breguet range and endurance equations. Results from this new methodology are compared to the existing model used by the National Air and Space Intelligence Center for flight planning. This method is then extended and applied to several routing assignment problems, taking advantage of the incorporation of performance characteristics in their formulation. Example problems are generated using binary integer programming models and nonlinear mixed integer programming models.