Commercial Derivative Rotorcraft for Select DOD Missions - A Vulnerability Perspective

The U.S. Department of Defense (DOD) is facing challenging times in terms of budgets and developmental acquisition programs to modernize their aging fleets. To manage costs and get fielded platforms to the warfighter more quickly, several DOD services are contemplating commercial derivative solutions to meet their rotorcraft mission requirements. This transitional process has been well documented from aspects such as airworthiness, but not as well from a combat vulnerability perspective. This paper provides discussion and recommended guidance on understanding, defining, and implementing successful combat vulnerability design requirements for commercial derivative rotorcraft programs. And with many of these types of acquisition programs coming online in the near future, it is imperative for the U.S. DOD rotorcraft community to become informed on this topic to remain competitive in our DOD and international markets.