Pre-Milestone A and Early-Phase Systems Engineering A Retrospective Review and Benefits for Future Air Force Systems Acquisition (2008) / Chapter Skim
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Pages 1-13
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Simply stated, SE is the translation of a user's needs into a definition of a system and its architecture through an iterative process that results in an effective system design. SE applies over the entire program life cycle, from concept development to final disposal.
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tion life cycle in addressing the root causes of program failure, especially during the pre-Milestone A and early phases of a program. Currently, few formal SE processes are applied to Air Force development programs before the Milestone A review. The committee has devoted much time and space in this report to trying to define a minimum set of systems engineering processes.
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Attention to a few critical systems engineering processes and functions particularly during preparation for Milestones A and B is essential to ensuring that Air Force acquisition programs deliver products on time and on budget. Today's weapons systems provide unprecedented capabilities but also involve complex interfaces with external command, control, and communications systems and rely on a greater volume of software than ever before.
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The committee has observed that many of the truly extraordinary development programs of the past, such as Apollo, the Manhattan Project, the early imaging satellite programs, the U-2, the fleet ballistic missile system, and nuclear submarines, were managed by relatively small (and often immature) agencies with few established processes and controls.
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Achieving capabilities or demonstrating critical subsystems while key program leaders remain engaged is important to get the capability into service quickly and cost-effectively and to begin the process of incremental improvements based on operational experience.
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Are the major known cost and schedule drivers and risks explicitly identified, and is there a plan to track and reduce uncertainty? Identifying the major cost and schedule risk areas, with particular attention to this checklist and the six seeds of failure -- inexperienced leadership, ex ternal interface complexity, system complexity, incomplete requirements at Milestone B, immature technology, and high reliance on new software -- can help focus management on these issues early.
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Such a plan developed early on can greatly reduce interface problems later in the development phase when they would be more difficult and costly to fix.
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A well-thought-out strategy for verifying system performance, including op timum phasing of verification tests throughout the assembly process, and well-thought-out use of analytical models and external simulators can have a large positive impact on ultimate cost, schedule, and performance.
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The creation of a robust systems engineering process is critically d ependent on having experienced systems engineers with adequate knowledge of the domain relevant to a contemplated program. While the systems engineering process is, broadly, reusable, it depends on having domain experts who are aware of what has gone wrong (and right)
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The role of the Air Force development planning organization, which was within the Air Force Systems Command, was to provide standard evaluation tools and perform pre-Milestone A systems engineering functions across acquisition programs. The early 1990s saw an erosion of this front-end planning organization along with its funding as the Air Force Systems Command (now the Air Force Materiel Command)
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A development planning function should be established in the military departments to coordinate the concept development and refinement phase of all acquisition programs to ensure that the capabilities required by the country as a whole are considered and that unifying strategies such as network-centric operations and interoperability are addressed. The Air Force and the other military services should establish a development planning organization like that which existed in the early 1990s.
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From page 12... ...
Systems Engineering Division, 2003, Task Report: Top Five Systems Engineering Issues in Defense Industry, January, Arlington, Va.: NDIA. Defense Science Board/Air Force Scientific Advisory Board Joint Task Force, 2003, Acquisition of National Security Space Programs, May, Washington, D.C.: OUSD (AT&L)
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From page 13... ...
-- Incremental improvement applied solely to the "little a" acquisition process requires all processes to be stable -- but they are not. The committee notes that successful implementation of these recommendations requires the "zipper concept" -- making connections at all levels, from the senior leadership of the Air Force and DOD down to the working levels within key program management offices and supervisory staffs.
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