Materiel Sys Analysis
Abstract
This program element funds Department of the Army (DA) civilians at the Army Materiel Systems Analysis Activity (AMSAA) to conduct responsive and effective materiel systems analysis in support of senior Army decision making for equipping the U.S. Army. AMSAA conducts systems and engineering analyses to support Army decisions in technology; materiel acquisition; and the design, development, fielding, and sustaining of Army weapon/materiel systems. As part of this mission, AMSAA develops and certifies systems performance data used in Army studies, and develops baseline systems performance methodology and Models and Simulations (M&S). AMSAA exercises Headquarters Department of the Army (HQDA) responsibility for verification, validation, and accreditation of item-level performance M&S for combat effects, including the development and maintenance of common data formats. Similarly, AMSAA also exercises HQDA responsibility for developing, maintaining, improving, verifying, validating and accrediting item-level performance data and M&S for combat effects and logistics. In support of its materiel systems analysis mission, AMSAA analyzes the performance and combat effectiveness of conceptual, developmental, and fielded systems. Unique models and methodologies have been developed to predict critical performance variables, such as weapon accuracy, target acquisition, rate of fire, and probability of inflicting catastrophic damage, survivability, mobility and system reliability. AMSAA generates performance and effectiveness measures and ensures their standard use across major Army and Joint studies. AMSAA conducts and supports various systems analysis efforts across the entire materiel system life cycle, such as: Analysis of Alternatives (AoAs); system cost/performance tradeoffs and early technology trade-offs to inform system and acquisition program risk assessments; weapons/systems mix analyses; business case analyses and cost benefit analyses; requirements analyses; technology insertion studies; reliability growth studies; Physics of Failure (PoF) analyses; and analytical support for Test and Evaluation. AMSAA also maintains, pursuant to Army Acquisition Executive direction, the Center for Army Acquisition and Materiel Lessons Learned (CAAMLL). These analyses are used by the Army Research, Development and Engineering Command; Army Materiel Command; Training and Doctrine Command; Army Test and Evaluation Command; Program Executive Officers/Project Managers; Headquarters, Department of the Army (HQDA) (both Army Staff and Assistant Secretaries in the HQDA Secretariat); and Office of Secretary of Defense (OSD)/Department of Defense (DoD) Leadership. AMSAA analyses and data are used by these organizations in making acquisition, procurement, and logistics decisions in order to provide quality equipment and procedures to the Soldier. AMSAA's M&S capabilities support the development, linkage, and accreditation of live, virtual, and constructive simulations, and provide unique tools that support systems analysis of individual systems and the combined-arms environment. AMSAA maintains a significant number of models and simulations, most of which were developed in-house to address specific analytical requirements. This M&S infrastructure provides a hierarchical modeling process that is unique to AMSAA and allows for a comprehensive performance and effectiveness prediction capability that can be utilized to make trade-off and investment decisions prior to extensive and expensive hardware testing of proposed systems/technologies for Current and Future Force efforts. AMSAA is the Army's executive agent for the verification, validation, and accreditation of item/system level performance models. In this role, AMSAA assists model developers with the development and execution of verification and validation plans to ensure new models and simulations provide credible information/results for decision making. AMSAA exercises HQDA responsibility for Army reliability methodology development. In this role, as the Army's Executive Agent for reliability and maintainability standardization improvement, AMSAA develops and implements reliability and maintainability reform initiatives that support acquisition decisions and lifecycle management. AMSAA develops and applies engineering approaches that assess the reliability of Army materiel and also provides recommendations on ways to improve reliability, thereby reducing logistics footprint, reducing life cycle costs, and extending failure-free periods for deployed equipment. AMSAA's electronic and mechanical Physics of Failure (PoF) program pioneered the Army's involvement in utilizing computer-aided engineering tools in the analysis of root-cause failure mechanisms at the component level during the system design process. AMSAA's reliability engineering and PoF tools/analyses have been used extensively to support the design improvement of developmental and fielded systems used in Current Operations resulting in improved reliability, reduced Operational and Support costs, and reduced logistics expenditures and footprint. AMSAA, in conjunction with the Army Evaluation Center, has formed the Center for Reliability Growth (CRG), which is developing critical tools, methodology, policies, formal guidance, and educational materials needed to help acquisition programs to achieve their required reliability during the acquisition process. The reliability improvements achieved for major weapon systems will translate into billions of dollars in operating and support cost savings across the life cycle. AMSAA's unique analytical capabilities are supporting the Army Evaluation Center to assess and determine the essential analytical requirements to enhance Army evaluations and reduce extensive testing. AMSAA's support in this area improves evaluation products and result in better materiel solutions to the Warfighter. AMSAA assists in systems evaluations which support various Acquisition Category (ACAT) materiel system decisions, and provides quick response analyses in support of rapid initiatives for Current Operations. As the Army's center for materiel systems analysis, AMSAA provides the technical capability to support Army and DoD decision makers throughout the entire acquisition process in responding to analytical requirements across the full spectrum of materiel. AMSAA's unique in-house, consistent, integrated analytical capability is a critical asset that provides Army leadership with timely, independent, unbiased, reliable, and high quality analysis to support complex decisions required for Army Transformation and Current Operations. AMSAA's integrated set of skills and tools are focused on its core mission to be responsive to the breadth and depth of systems analysis requirements critical in supporting Army decisions.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Project
- Publication Date
- Oct 01, 2016
- Source ID
- 541_0605706A_6_2040_PB_2016
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- Child Accomplishment: Materiel Systems Analysis