Concepts in Operational Support Research

Abstract

Based upon actual studies on current complex military systems, an attempt is made to gather into a cohesive form those concepts characterizing the operational support field (defined as the process having the objective of keeping system availability at acceptable levels). The concepts have evolved from integrated studies on reliability, maintainability and logistics problems and have proven to be productive in the solution of varied types of support problems. The elements making up the conceptual framework of operational support are defined and discussed. The interrelationships among such characteristics as reliability, maintainability and supply are considered insofar as they must be taken into account by design personnel relative to the mission of the equipment or weapon system. The aims and context of the field of operational support are discussed from the point of view of the ex ante (before the fact) designer and ex post (after the fact) operating personnel. By defining the subject area of operational support in terms of two major areas, reliability and maintainability, all other characteristics of a support system and all related functions may be classified under these two major groupings. The concepts developed lead to a description in the form of a pulse train model which provides the analysis of the operation of the piece of equipment or weapon system. Distributions of system availability are derived from distributions of time to failure and time to return to service of the units making up the equipment or system. Although systems management is not specifically discussed, the concepts structured not only give quantitative meaning to the engineering aspects of systems development but also extend to systems management. The concepts thereby become basic to management organization and to control and communication from the data processing point of view.