Counterinsurgency Aircraft Procurement Options: Processes, Methods, Alternatives, and Estimates

A call is being made for an aircraft dedicated to the counterinsurgency COIN mission within military academic circles and the special operations community. Support for a COIN aircraft needs hard numbers, given the Air Forces budget constraints brought on by the dedication to the F-22A. Building on Arthur Daviss COIN aircraft advocacy paper, this research doesnt focus on further advocacy, but on a process and method for COIN aircraft procurement. The acquisition focus is on United States Special Operations Commands USSOCOM acquisition authority to couple its global war on terrorism GWOT mission responsibility with commercial-off-the-shelf aircraft procurement to specifically address the need for an airborne COIN capability. The performance, schedule, and cost information associated with Raytheons T-6A NTA and Stavattis SM-27 are reviewed and compared beyond the acquisition process. Additionally, acquisition and operations, maintenance and support cost estimates are produced for both alternatives. The estimates reflect respective acquisition costs of approximately 211 million and 426 million and maintenance, and support costs of 38 million and 47 million, respectively. The latter two costs are stated in fiscal year FY 2007 dollars. The analysis of alternatives yields a recommendation based on the three key acquisition areas of performance schedule, and cost. The T-6A NTA platform possesses demonstrated performance, immediate availability, and lower costs, and is recommended by this analysis.