Suchergebnisse

This research investigates the current structure of the Ministry of Defence's procurement system, with particular emphasis on the procurement of military sensor systems. A lifecycle common test environment, with an appropriate commercial construct for its implementation, is proposed. Sensor systems include radar, passive RF surveillance (ESM) as well as electro-optic, infrared, sonar and other acoustic monitoring systems that are used to gather intelligence for a number of purposes including 1. Pre-empting hostile acts 2. Reducing risk to friendly forces and non-combatants in danger zones 3. Informing and prosecuting attacks on hostile forces Sensor systems often form part of larger systems, also called systems of systems. In some cases, a number of sensors are required to work together to improve information extraction by data or information fusion. It will be seen that these are complex systems. They are often designed to adapt their modes of operation to meet evolving situations. In this way, they can optimise themselves to meet their deployment objectives. These are difficult systems to specify. Therefore, they are difficult systems to test; they are expected to respond to a large number of situations that cannot easily be defined in advance of their being encountered. This research brings together technical and commercial initiatives to remove many of the existing discontinuities along the lifecycle of such projects. The discontinuities harbour technical and commercial discrepancies that detract from achieving delivery and cost targets. A pragmatic Test and Evaluation concept is defined. It is backed by a commercial process. Together they provide an independent way to deliver continuous lifecycle evaluation and test of sensor systems. This research offers a quantifiable measure of military capability improvements that complies with Systems Engineering and Management good practice.