8.4.1 Supportability Analysis Process Flow

Abstract United Defense, L.P., Armament Systems Division has developed a process that improves the accuracy of reliability, maintainability, and supportability analyses during the design cycle. These analyses rely heavily on initial assumptions in calculating key parameters and serve as the basis for determining spares, manpower, maintenance policy, etc and ultimately the estimate for system Total Life Cycle Cost (TLCC). Because of this, it is imperative that the initial assumptions be realistic and credible. We found that by modeling and simulating the design against the customer's specific mission profile, we can obtain realistic credible results, permitting the program to make cost effective supportability decisions early in the system design cycle. This paper presents the process and related tasks used in developing the supportability analysis in order to obtain realistic supportability results. Also, this paper discusses the benefits of the approach and draws a comparison between the traditional methodology and this new process.