Czech Armed Forces and Some Aspects of Helicopters Acquisition

After several years of discussion and decision-making approaches Army of the Czech Republic to implement the purchase of multipurpose helicopters to replace the previously used, morally and physically obsolete attack helicopters Mi-24 / 34. The process of acquisition consists of many stages; it is not a simple matter and has its pitfalls. It is also a big, expensive and long-term acquisition in which the poor implementation can cause problems that are likely to affect the Army of the Czech Republic and its Air Force for many years. One of the decision-making process inputs is an estimate of Life Cycle Cost (LCC). For the estimation, many methods can be used. The paper deals with application of system dynamics to LCC estimation process. Partial models of utilization and support Life Cycle phases are presented, which can be further developed according to consecutive data availability. An influence of different helicopter operating modes on a Life Cycle Cost is demonstrated by means of simulation in Vensim application. The models, after verification and validation, can be used to support the acquisition process.