History Of Military Aircraft Essays - Stealth Aircraft, Monoplanes

History of Military Aircraft Military aircraft has become more sophisticated in variety, effectiveness in war situations, and special maneuvering techniques in recent years. With the advance of stealth technology, many new and very effective aircraft have been developed. The F-117A was used during Operation Dessert Storm and every plane came back without a scratch. The very expensive B-2 stealth bomber has never been used in actual war, but during testing it was a success. The Advanced Tactical Fighter program was started to make an aircraft that could supercruise, the ability to cruise at supersonic speeds, and didn't cost very much. The YF-22 and YF-23 were the first planes to accomplish this. With all the planes we know of, there are also top secret programs probably going on right now. A new fighter that has never been heard of before has been spotted. As John Welch, the assistant secretary of Air Force said, "Stealth gives us back that fundamental element of war called surprise" (Goodall 9). After it was found that aircraft could be very useful in war, it was used for large scale reconnaissance. Then people started to add bombs to aircraft and then airplanes started to become an essence of war. After World War 2, new bombers were developed with fast speed, and could travel far distances. They could also carry nuclear bombs and missiles. The use of the bomber aircraft then led to the fighter, which was equipped with guns and missiles. Helicopters were also found to be good strike aircraft. They were armed with cannons, machine guns, rockets, torpedoes, and a variety of missiles. Vertical takeoff made the helicopter an advantage. The first flight of the F-117A was in June of 1981 in Groom Lake test facility. The total cost for the development of the F-117A was just under two billion dollars, but it only cost $43 million to make each plane. It became operational in October of 1983 and was the first operational stealth aircraft ever built. The F-117A is a night attack plane powered by two, nonafterburning General Electric engines. F-117As were designed for first-strike capabilities and to be able to fly into any countries airspace undetected. The primary task of the F-117A is to break through enemy airspace, destroy high value targets, and return back unharmed. They were considered to first be used in several different tasks, but weren't used until Operation Dessert Storm where they did an excellent job. As Donald Rice, Secretary of the Air Force, said, "Everyone now agrees the F-117 was a real bargain" (9). During Operation Dessert Storm the F-117As were found out to be very successful. The war began on January 16, 1991 when the F-117A fighters entered the Iraqi airspace on their way to downtown Baghdad. There were 43 of them over the skies of Iraq and not one was lost even though they went against one of the most modern air-defense systems in the world. Operation Dessert Storm was the largest aerial bombing attack in war history. It was also the first time a stealth aircraft was used as a main weapon. On the first day of Dessert Storm the Lockheed F-117As dropped sixty-two 2,000 pound bombs on Baghdad destroying the most critical targets of the Iraqi military, including the headquarters of the Iraqi air force. "We've seen that not only does stealth work, but that it puts fewer assets at risk and saves lives" (9), as Donald Rice said. The pilots of those F-117As flew through the hardest anti-aircraft missiles any pilot has ever flown through. When you think of stealth, most people probably think of B-2 stealth bomber, but most people don't realize that it hasn't even been used in a real war situation yet. In November of 1987 the Pentagon ordered the first four B-2s to be built for $2 billion. Each B-2 cost $437.4 million to build. After the military liked the bomber, they originally ordered 133 of them, then they cut back to 75 because of the deficit-reduction bill. Then, in 1992, the House of Representatives voted to buy only twenty, and later only 15 saying that 10 would be enough. With four General Electric engines with 19,000 pounds of thrust each, the B-2s were made to carry a lot of weight.

Income increased To Budget Essays

Income increased To Budget Essays Income increased To Budget Essay Income increased To Budget Essay A budget provides a business with a good outlook and structure for future plans Income represents a key area of budgeting as without income there is no money to work with in the future. Sometimes it is necessary to increase the amount of income that is available to budget with. This can be dome by selling more products or raising prices. If costs are higher than expected then and income is not increased then profits might be affected. A business with an adequate budget, which it does not exceed , should be able to pay its expenses and keep trading. Any excess money that is left over can be kept and used in unexpected situations. This is known as a CONTINGENCY FUND Bidding to Increase Future Resources Sometimes businesses realise that they do not have enough money available in their budgets to, for example, expand or buy new equipment. Therefore they may chose to bid for additional funding through a capital grant of ask others to invest in the business This means that the business owners get the use of the money invested and in return offers a percentage stake in the business. A Private Limited of Public Limited Company may chose to do this by offering shares. Other businesses raise money in different ways. They may get a bank loan or may try to raise finance by getting a grant. Grants can be given to businesses by national or local government agencies for many different reasons. These include where the business is located, how big the business is, or if the business is an industry that has problems. The most common organisations to receive grants are in farming, manufacturing or tourism. Provision of Appropriate Reserves to Address Emergencies/Crisis Businesses have to make sure that they keep some money back at the end of each month in case an emergency should happen. This ensures that if they do have problems, such as an unexpected expense, or there is a downturn in the market they have enough funds to continue in business. Some accountants recommend that reserves should be maintained which allow the business to continue for at least 3 months in the event of emergency. It is also important for businesses to have some reserves in the early stages of the business as it may be difficult to make accurate budget predictions and costs. Expenses may be higher than planned and income may be less. An emergency budget will allow the business to continue to trade. BREAK-EVEN ANALYSIS The break-even point is the level of output at which a business covers its total costs. In other words where total cost = total revenue. Anything produced sold above this point is profit, anything below is loss. THE PURPOSE OF BREAK-EVEN ANALYSIS * Estimate the future level of output they will need to produce and sell in order to break-even or achieve a profit target * Explore what if scenarios e.g. assess the likely impact of price changes upon the level of output needed to break even OR assess how changes in fixed and/or variable costs may affect the level of output necessary to break even * Support applications for loans from banks and other financial institutions the use of the technique may indicate good business sense as well as providing profit forecasts. CALCULATING BREAK-EVEN POINT USING CONTRIBUTION Calculating the break-even point for a product requires: * the selling price of the product * its fixed costs * its variable costs per unit. The break-even output level can be calculated by the formula: Fixed Costs BEP = Contribution (selling price variable cost per unit) Contribution is the difference between revenue and variable costs. It is used to pay fixed costs and to provide profits. EXAMPLE A firm selling tennis rackets has fixed costs of à ¯Ã‚ ¿Ã‚ ½1,000 and each racket costs them à ¯Ã‚ ¿Ã‚ ½20 to produce. The retail price of the rackets is à ¯Ã‚ ¿Ã‚ ½30. How many rackets does the firm have to sell to break-even? à ¯Ã‚ ¿Ã‚ ½1,000 à ¯Ã‚ ¿Ã‚ ½1,000 BEP = = = 100 rackets (à ¯Ã‚ ¿Ã‚ ½30 à ¯Ã‚ ¿Ã‚ ½20) à ¯Ã‚ ¿Ã‚ ½10 TASK ONE Armstrong Ltd manufactures computer desks in a small business unit, which it rents from the local council. The rent is currently à ¯Ã‚ ¿Ã‚ ½400 per month and other fixed costs add up to à ¯Ã‚ ¿Ã‚ ½100 per month. The desks are sold to computer retailers at a standard price of à ¯Ã‚ ¿Ã‚ ½60. Production is organised between five staff and the variable production costs are à ¯Ã‚ ¿Ã‚ ½35 per desk. Calculate how many desks Armstrong Ltd would have to make in a month in order to break even. CALCULATING BREAK-EVEN POINT USING TC AND TR Another way of calculating the break-even point is to use the total costs and total revenue equation. In the case of the above example: Total costs = fixed costs + variable costs Or TC = à ¯Ã‚ ¿Ã‚ ½1,000 + à ¯Ã‚ ¿Ã‚ ½20Q And Total revenue = price x quantity sold Or TR = à ¯Ã‚ ¿Ã‚ ½30Q Where Q is the quantity produced and sold. A firm will break-even where total cost is equal to total revenue. Therefore we can write: TC = TR à ¯Ã‚ ¿Ã‚ ½1,000 + à ¯Ã‚ ¿Ã‚ ½20Q = à ¯Ã‚ ¿Ã‚ ½30Q To find Q we can calculate: 1,000 = 30Q 20Q 1,000 = 10Q 1,000 = Q 10 100 = Q TASK TWO Using the same scenario as before, calculate the break-even point for Armstrong Ltd using the total costs and total revenue equation.