Augustine's Law and Unit Cost Growth in the Rotorcraft Industry

One of the most famous of Augustine's Laws involved the ever-escalating costs of aircraft over time. Law Number XVI states, "In the year 2054, the entire defense budget will purchase just one aircraft. This aircraft will have to be shared by the Air Force and Navy 3- 1/2 days each per week except for leap year, when it will be made available to the Marines for the extra day." This particular reference involved tactical aircraft but the same trend can be observed for other types of military hardware. This paper addresses and attempts to explain this phenomenon as it applies to the rotorcraft industry. For example, increasing demand for more survivable rotorcraft, and more survivable payloads that must be carried by rotorcraft (eg., HMMWVs, soldier body armor, etc.), result in not only higher unit costs but in higher mission costs.