An Open Systems Approach to Supportability
Abstract
The open systems approach is both a technical approach to weapons systems engineering and a preferred business strategy that is becoming widely applied by manufacturers of large complex systems. Today, legacy systems continue to be developed with their own, often unique, and frequently closed designs, making upgrade or modification difficult over their expected lifetimes (20 to 40 years). Also, reduced procurement budgets and the increased dominance of commercial technology cause DoD acquisition managers to increasingly rely on commercial markets for affordable product development and support. For the most part, however, DoD weapons systems managers still risk relying on unique products provided by a single supplier at high non-competitive prices with little opportunity for technology insertion or product support by other suppliers. Life cycle supportability of weapons systems is seriously impacted by the continued use of closed designs. This paper discusses the use and application of open systems concepts and design principles to provide weapons systems that more readily accommodate changing technology to achieve system cost, schedule, and performance benefits by promoting multiple competitive sources of supply within the commercial marketplace. Open systems concepts and design principles also offer the potential to greatly improve supportability of such systems over their service lifetimes.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Jun 01, 2002
- Accession Number
- ADA404574
Entities
People
- Arvid G. Larson
- Charles K. Banning
- John F. Leonard