Value proposition analysis applied to military training airplane design concept

Abstract

Among the current first-line Western fighter aircraft are the Lockheed Martin F-22 Raptor, Dassault Rafale, F-35 Lightning II, and Eurofighter Typhoon. On July 31st, 2015, the first F-35 squadron was declared ready for deployment after intensive testing by the United States military. However, since the First Gulf War the geopolitical scenario shows the predominance of a new type of conflict and the recent combat operations require different aircraft characteristics when compared with cold war-era types. The present work analyzes the market for military training/light attack aircraft over several decades, taking into account this environment. The authors of the present work believe that only innovative new designs can justify the substitution of current aircraft types in service. Thus, traditional market analysis considering replacement of existing fleets may not suffice to estimate the market potential of each new proposal. The market profile obtained is the result of profound analysis of the global fleet of trainer aircraft and their missions combined with geopolitical and economic forecasts. At first, the analysis carried out here considered a macro view of the market. A segmentation was proposed, after the identification of the major categories. The second part of the study uses the value proposition concept and analyzes the market perspectives for each of four suggested value propositions, through a bottom-up analysis. The value propositions summarize how a product differs from the others, and what a product can offer to a prospective customer. Thus, successful companies will be those who can identify the most interesting slices of the market and address the right product to them. The proposed method helps to offer more value to the customer for the same price, increasing competitiveness. Considering the phases and duration of aircraft design, the identification of the best value proposition during the product conceptual design is crucial to find out the best suitable configuration to the market. In this process, engineers and designers need to be provided with full freedom not only to suggest the value propositions, but also to maximize the chosen proposition throughout the project. The article concludes that the engineering shall be fully integrated into the market analysis as a way to both optimize the market potential of the new product.