OVERARCHING ROTORCRAFT COMMONALITY ASSESSMENT

The Overarching Rotorcraft Commonality Assessment (ORCA) is sponsored by the Joint Staff (J-8) to assess potential commonality in future Department of Defense (DoD) rotorcraft requirements and technology developments, and present insights for commonality opportunities and potential investment strategies. This paper addresses the processes for mission analysis, advanced concept designs, and costs analysis to determine if desired future operational capabilities could be met with a limited number of common rotorcraft platforms that are technically feasible and affordable. This paper has been updated from a similar paper presented on the same subject at the AHS VTOL Design Conference in January 2000. The approach taken in this ORCA study is similar to that used in Deputy Director for Research and Engineering (DDR&E) “Helicopter Commonality Interoperability Study” of 1976. The emerging results using this process indicate that desired future capabilities could be met with 3-4 common rotorcraft platform designs if early requirements harmonization could be achieved and DDR&E technology programs supported. Significant savings in DoD life cycle costs can be achieved if Joint common rotorcraft programs are conducted. However, a Joint coordination organization is needed for early harmonization of requirements to make initiation of these programs feasible.