By Ann Roosevelt
MEADS International has turned in the Life Cycle Cost Estimate (LCCE) for the Medium Extended Air Defense System (MEADS) to the three partner nations–the United States, Germany and Italy–contending owning the systems is less expensive than the current air and missile defense systems the nations now deploy.
The LCCE is a required part of the Critical Design Review, much of which was successfully completed in August.
MEADS is a mobile, 360-degree coverage system that would replace Patriot in the United States and Patriot and the retired Hawk system in Germany. It would replace Nike Hercules in Italy. The system design incorporates full interoperability between the United States and allied armies.
“It was the first time that the fidelity of information was available for us to produce a high fidelity life cycle cost estimate,” MEADS International President Steve Barnoske said recently in a teleconference.
The LCCE consists of two parts, the acquisition cost of the system and the operational and support costs, or sustainability costs, once the systems are fielded.
The costs are based on a series of assumptions of procurement quantities and rates, life-cycle periods and the length of time the system is expected to be in the field. Those numbers are generally sensitive national information.
MEADS International has created a model that allows nations to run excursions to see the cost impact of changing the number of systems procured, for example, as well as other variables.
The primary point of comparison was Patriot, because it is used by the United States and Germany.
At this point in time, he said, the costs are “quite mature,” associated with designs, fabrication of sub assemblies and assemblies and even some end items. All of that data is rolled into the LCCE.
Not surprisingly, right now the MEADS acquisition costs are comparable to currently fielded systems, Barnoske said. “While the acquisition costs are similar, affordability is greatly enhanced…needing to do more with less as fielded.”
A review with representatives of the three governments and accumulated data, demonstrated the MEADS design “will, in fact, significantly reduce the cost of ownership,” Barnoske said.
Ordinarily, he said, more than two-thirds of the total ownership cost is in operational and support costs, but the MEADS costs are about half of that, stemming from features in the system design including high reliability, automated fault detection, prognostics, a two-level maintenance plan and a reduction in the number of system elements.
Because MEADS can defend as much as eight times the coverage area with fewer system elements than current deployed systems because of the performance associated with the 360- degree coverage, advanced digital radars, there are concomitant reductions in personnel and equipment, Barnoske said.
“It’s a given that MEADS will essentially pay for the acquisition of the system with its supportability costs,” Barnoske said.
Now past a successful CDR, since all hardware for each MEADS Major End Item has been approved, integration and test has begun that will support of flight tests starting in 2012. The production agreement among the three nations is still under discussion.
MEADS International is a multinational joint venture headquartered in Orlando, Fla., including Italy’s MBDA, Germany’s LFK and Lockheed Martin [LMT].
The United States funds 58 percent of the MEADS program; Germany provides 25 percent; and Italy, 17 percent, as partners in the NATO Medium Extended Air Defense System Management Organization (NAMEADSMO). The program management agency NAMEADSMA is located in Huntsville, Ala.