Abstract:
The Institute for Defense Analyses (IDA) provided assistance to the U.S. Army Training and Doctrine Command (TRADOC) Analysis Center (TRAC) in their Brownout Rotorcraft Enhancement System (BORES) Analysis of Alternatives (AoA). IDA conducted a thorough literature search and documented the historical (2000-2013) rotorcraft brownout incidents, loss of personnel and equipment, and associated equipment costs. In addition, IDA considered future estimates of possible brownout mishap mitigation along with estimated “breakeven” costs for the BORES sensor integration on the Army H-60 and H-47 series aircraft. This is the cost above which new sensors would be more than the savings associated with preventing future rotorcraft brownout incidents. These helped inform decision makers on the overall cost-effectiveness of the currently envisioned BORES as a function of the future force structure, flying hour (FH) rates, and operating environments.