EMPHASIZE SUPPORTABILITY EARLY
FIGURE 1
DESIGNED INTO THE SYSTEM
This life cycle cost distribution model for a system shows the majority of costs are incurred during the operation-and-support phase. Many of those operation-and-support requirements are designed into the system during development. (Image by Defense Acquisition University)
A 2003 report by the U.S. Government Accountability Office focused on weapon system total ownership costs. It determined that up to 90 percent of these operation-and-support costs are locked in by the time a product is developed and ready for produc- tion. (See Figure 2, Page 55.)
Even though this report is somewhat dated, we still believe it is relevant to today’s acquisition life cycle. For ammunition and associated items (Supply Class V), operation-and-support costs are believed to be less, but still a significant portion of the overall life cycle costs because of several different factors—for example, you cannot get back spent bullets. (See Figure 1.) Additionally, ammunition usually doesn’t have parts that require scheduled maintenance, repairs or upgrades. Tese costs have a huge impact on the ability to sustain fielded systems.
CCDC AC has introduced several initiatives that will drive engineers and scientists toward identifying and addressing supportability issues at an early stage. Te goal is to “design out” these issues or, at the very least, properly identify these issues as risks to our stakeholders and to our partners who will receive this technology and mature it further for production.
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Realistic planning and resourcing can be achieved by program managers when the science and technology community can iden- tify supportability risks before transition, thus ensuring successful programs and eventual fielding of the capabilities.
SUPPORTABILITY SPECIALISTS One initiative is the Science and Technology Supportability Cell at the Armaments Center, which was established in 2017 and currently has a staff of six people. Tis group’s mission is to assess emerging armament system designs for any supportability issues and opportunities across all science and technology efforts. Te cell does this by using various personnel, processes and tools to identify, analyze and evaluate supportability implications.
Tis cell comprises supportability project officers who have various engineering and life cycle logistics backgrounds and a capability to apply their knowledge and experiences in the abstract. Tat would entail taking designs of potential systems and envision- ing how they will be used and function if they were fielded now, and extracting from that concept the impacts or considerations needed so that it can be supported. Before being integrated into science and technology projects, the Science and Technology
Army AL&T Magazine
Summer 2020
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