Downloaded from https://www.everyspec.com MIL-HDBK-502: A MIL-HDBK-502: A CQUISITION CQUISITION L OGISTICS OGISTICS 4. Capabilities Required. This section breaks out performance and support considerations. The writers of the ORD are required to identify what they consider key performance parameters. All parameters not identified as key are potential tradeoffs when achieving them impacts supportability. The format for the ORD requires the system developer to make hard choices between “must have” and “nice to have” at the early stages of the program.
This information is of vital importance to the logisticians, who then know what they must support, regardless of costs, and what they can trade off. a. System Performance . System performance parameters like range, accuracy, payload, and speed are to be identified in measurable quantifiable terms. General terms or those whose interpretation is potentially ambiguous must be avoided. b. Logistics and Readiness. “ Measures” and “rates” are key terms in this section . Parameters such as mission-capable rates, sortie/mission completion/abort rates, operational availability, and frequency and duration of preventive or scheduled maintenance actions are expressed in measurable terms.
Combat support requirements, mobility requirements, expected maintenance levels, and surge and mobilization capabilities can also be measured quantifiably. c. Other System Characteristics. The characteristics in this special category tend to be design, cost and risk drivers. Electronic countermeasures are expensive to design. Nuclear, biological, and chemical contamination is expensive to address. Unplanned stimuli (like fast cookoff and sympathetic detonation) introduce major risks. Safety and security considerations affect effective supportability. “What ifs” need to be addressed during support planning. 5. Program Support .
Effective program support looks close at hand and far off—in time and space. Fielding a system that provides the operational capability requested is only the first step. But, because this first step is so overwhelmingly important, sometimes the following less obvious steps are neglected. Initial capability is different from full capability, and surge requirements are totally different still. A spares program that might be perfectly adequate for full capability might be totally unable to handle the surge requirements of multiple contingency operations. Support considerations have become more complex because internal system interfaces are far more complex than they used to be.
The demands for standardization and interoperability require that the logistician be familiar with what is going on with many other programs. Learning what supportability requirements other systems have will keep the logistician from reinventing the wheel, and will assist in finding where low-cost solutions can be pursued. 6-2