Downloaded from https://www.everyspec.com MIL-HDBK-502: A MIL-HDBK-502: A CQUISITION CQUISITION L OGISTICS OGISTICS the "trade space." Program objectives may be refined based on the results of the preceding program phase. These supportability constraints should be analyzed through a comprehensive systems analysis effort conducted during the Synthesis segment. This effort should include a systems effectiveness/cost analysis that weighs supportability constraints against each other and against user requirements, other system parameters, and life cycle costs.
Tradeoff studies within this effort should establish alternative performance requirements (supportability included) to satisfy operational and mission needs. Preliminary support concepts should also be examined at this time in light of constraints imposed by the user’s operational and readiness requirements. The support concept is a critical element in determining both specification and support resource requirements, and it needs to be updated throughout the systems acquisition process to reflect modifications to the system and changes in the operation and maintenance requirements.
This updating will enable supportability requirements to accurately reflect the evolution of the operational system. Supportability Risk Risk assessment of the supportability constraints and concepts should also be an integral part of the systems analysis effort. These assessments should identify risk drivers, determine the sensitivity of interrelated risks, and quantify risk impacts. A major risk factor in defining the operating and support environment is the difficulty in describing the environment as it will be, and not as it is.
Depending upon the type of acquisition, the time separation between this initial description of a system’s operational environment and the time of fielding can be many years. It is logical to expect the operating and support environment to change during that time as new products, new personnel skills, new support resources, and new operational needs are introduced, and economic considerations change. But these changes must be identified and factored into the supportability analyses to ensure that planning assumptions and decisions for the support system can be adjusted.
To get a good picture of the overall suitability of support system requirements, it is important to consider the best and worst case operating scenarios. System supportability should be assessed under both peacetime and wartime scenarios. Peacetime support planning is based upon equipment readiness and economic considerations. Repair decisions in this scenario are made to reduce the cost of obtaining replacement products. A wartime scenario should include both surge and sustained rates of operation. Wartime support planning is driven by equipment readiness or operational availability.
Detailed component repair may be discarded in favor of major subsystem replacement to reduce system downtime 5-6