United States Marine Corps Aerial Refueling Requirements Analysis

The United States Marine Corps (USMC) currently operates a fleet of KC130 aerial refueling tanker aircraft. This paper uses queuing and simulation models to examine the USMC KC130 tanker requirement, contrasts the results and explores the budgetary implications of alternative fleet requirements. This analysis finds that queuing models don't account for some of the complexities of aerial refueling operations. Therefore, queuing models may miscalculate the KC130 requirement. Simulation models give a more accurate depiction of actual KC130 requirement. Further, by incorrectly specifying the requirement the USMC could be faced with significant operational and budgetary implications.
Published in Proceedings of the Winter Simulation Conference, p1075-1081, 2000. The original document contains color images.