Understanding Aircraft Readiness: An Empirical Approach.

摘要

In the wake of a changing defense climate, the Navy is continuing to find ways to adjust to its smaller size while maintaining its ability to respond when required. An important part of the strategy is to monitor readiness during the downsizing process. The first step toward managing readiness is to understand what readiness is and why it changes over time or among units. This paper contributes to the further understanding of readiness by identifying the relationship between standard readiness measures and their determinants for Navy fighter (VF), attack (VA), and fighter/attack (VFA) aircraft. The analysis is an extension of our earlier work on explaining the readiness of surface combatants. Our objective was to build a comprehensive database of Navy fighter and attack units over time and identify readiness trends and relationships between readiness determinants and readiness measures where they exist. We analyzed unit-level readiness data for VA, VF, and VFA squadrons. We built a set of equations around three readiness resource areas: personnel, equipment, and unit training. Using regression analysis, we are able to demonstrate the impact of a change in the determinants.