The operational sortie of some military aircraft involves a patrol phase. Typical of these aircraft are Airborne Early Warning (AEW) aircraft, or interceptors operated in a “combat air patrol” mode. For this type of operation, the available endurance on patrol is obviously an important attribute, and in presenting the performance of an aircraft the maximum patrol time as limited by the fuel capacity of the aircraft is usually computed and quoted.

However, the overall reliability of a complex modern weapon system is such that the “mean time between failures” (MTBF) is usually not large in comparison with the fuel limited flight time. A significant proportion of flights will therefore be curtailed by failures, which necessitate a premature return to base, rather than the flight continuing to the maximum flight time.