Prime Vendor Support (PVS) for the Avenger M3P Machine Gun
Abstract
The United States Department of Defense (DoD) is under pressure to improve the way it does business in order to save money, improve performance, and improve customer satisfaction. Numerous plans and declarations have been initiated in the past, only to be overcome by business as usual. In 1994, Secretary of Defense William Perry initiated Acquisition Reform policies, causing sweeping changes in many areas of acquisition that continue to evolve today. Reform has brought about changes in program planning, specifications, requirements, test and evaluation, systems engineering, and documentation. One area in DoD that has been a challenge for significant change is logistics. It is widely publicized that at least 60 percent of the life-cycle cost of a weapon system is in the years of sustainment after the development and production are complete. With very few new systems in development, we must find ways to improve the reliability and lower the support costs of our legacy equipment. Many pilot programs are now in place and are slowly starting to reap benefits. One program that has received recent attention is Prime Vendor Support (PVS). This thesis will examine the feasibility of Prime Vendor Support (PVS) for the M3P machine gun, a major subsystem of the Avenger air defense platform. Research will include a review of the current M3P support concept, an in-depth study of PVS and examples of where PVS is being implemented, and the advantages and disadvantages of support through PVS.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Dec 01, 2002
- Accession Number
- ADA411153
Entities
People
- Glenn R. Mcpherson
Organizations
- Naval Postgraduate School