MEADS Life Cycle Costs Significantly Lower Than Fielded Systems: "METhe Medium Extended Air Defense System (MEADS) program has presented a required life cycle cost estimate to the three partner nations that proves the MEADS system design will significantly reduce the cost of ownership compared to air and missile defense systems that are currently fielded.
MEADS will especially reduce operation and support (O and S) costs. Ordinarily, over two-thirds of the total cost of ownership is spent in this area, but MEADS O and S costs are about half. Savings result from features of the MEADS design that include high reliability, automated fault detection, prognostics, two-level maintenance and a reduction in the number of system elements.
Additionally, MEADS was shown to defend up to eight times the coverage area with far fewer system assets. This allows for a substantial reduction in deployed personnel and equipment, and demand on airlift. Once in theater, MEADS elements emplace more quickly and can be repositioned dynamically.
