Cost-Estimating Relationships for Predicting Life-Cycle Costs of Inertial Measurement Unit Maintenance.

A major problem to life cycle cost planners is the scarcity of tools available for use in the conceptual phase of system design and acquisition that accurately predict operational and support costs. This thesis developed a cost-estimating relationship CER that predicts maintenance costs of inertial measurement units IMUs using only design and policy data that would be available to planners in the conceptual phase of weapon system acquisition. The cost estimated is the average quarterly maintenance cost per aircraft. The estimating variables are selected based on two criteria a Is the variable one that, viewed logically, would affect maintenance costs, b Is the variable one that would be known to planners in the conceptual phase of weapon system acquisition. The CER was developed by the ordinary least squares method of multiple regression analysis.