From the book An orderly modernization of sea based aircraft requires a continuing reappraisal of the roles which can be fulfilled by aircraft in concert with new naval vessels and in new tactical concepts. Recognizing the advantages and utility of sea-based aircraft, the Navy maintains a continued effort to develop aircraft which could operate from not only carriers and amphibious support ships as do the fixed wing aircraft or helicopters today, but which, utilizing the maintenance support capability of these forementioned ships, could be staged or temporarily based from smaller ships. Aircraft operating from a broad spectrum of ships may enhance the individual mission effectiveness of those ships and increase overall force effectiveness. The most distinctive characteristic of such an air-capable Navy would be the wide availability of ships which could serve as bases for an ever expanding variety of air-vehicles, the most common of which would be helicopters and V/STOL airplanes. . . . An audit of defenserelated V/STOL research and development efforts since 1950 reveals an investment of over onebillion dollars. This estimate is very conservative since an accurate count of all programs (and dollars) stretching back almost 30 years cannot be obtained. In addition, the contributions of NASA, academia, foreign governments and company ventures are not included. Also, the costs associated with the Harrier are not included in the estimate. After almost thirty years and over onebillion dollars, the question is: What are the significant technological and operational Òlessons learnedÓ and what are the major problems which must be resolved before the concept of an aircapable Navy can become a reality? Technological advances have been made which make V/STOL a potentially attractive weapon system concept for the 1990Õs and beyond. The combination of increased performance and weight reduction increases the possibility of developing an aircraft that may be competitive with conventional aircraft in performance and cost. In its present state, however, V/STOL carries significant extra development and logistics support costs as well as significant technological risk. In addition to assessing the technical feasibility of V/STOL designs, the cost/effectiveness of equally advanced conventional aircraft should be considered and compared to V/STOL designs.

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