Data Rights Relevant to Weapon Systems in Air Force Special Operations Command

Air Force Special Operations Command (AFSOC) is dissatisfied with the support it is getting from the original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) for several of its core military aircraft assets and their subsystems. AFSOC feels that it is paying too much for and getting less-than responsive service for the sustainment of these aircraft. In particular, it complains of difficulties in integrating new capabilities, obtaining timely support for aircraft when they fail in theater, and replacing lower-tier vendors that go out of business. AFSOC believes that better U.S. Air Force access to technical data on these systems would help resolve some of these problems because such data could improve competition for sustainment services or enable the Air Force to establish organic maintenance capabilities.1 AFSOC asked RAND Project AIR FORCE (PAF) to help the Air Force assess what technical data rights and deliverables the Air Force should buy for major weapon systems and subsystems and when to buy them. In the case of existing programs, AFSOC asked PAF to help the Air Force assess potential alternatives to paying high premiums for technical data proposed by OEMs. This report presents the findings and recommendations from PAFs investigation into these questions. Data collection and analysis ended in August 2018.