Letter to the Editor—A Cost Effectiveness Comparison Involving a Tradeoff of Performance, Cost, and Obtainability

The purpose of this paper is to develop an algorithm to examine the tradeoffs of performance versus cost versus time of obtainability. Consider three hypothetical aircraft with three obtainabilities: A_t (current), A_t+1 (one year later), and A_t+2 (two years later). Assume that an array of the variables reveals that no single aircraft has the ideal combination of lowest cost, best performance, and current obtainability. Decisions confronted with such dilemmas may be clarified by various tradeoff techniques. A description of such a technique is presented, although one fully realizes that the final choice will, perforce, require the introduction of judgment.