Long Acquisition and Upgrade Cycles

Avionics technology is advancing at a much faster pace than DoD acquisition cycles ( Figure 4-1 ) because avionics product cycles are driven by the commercial market, whereas DoD acquisition cycles are complex and often delayed by funding constraints (DSB, 1999). Perhaps the best example is the F-22, which will have undergone four avionics technology-refresh cycles before the first production airplane rolls off the line. Another example is the F-15 APG-63 radar modification. The contract was awarded in FY97, and the first unit was delivered in FY99. Because of funding constraints, production will cease in FY04 and FY05 and resume in FY06 (Donatelli, 2000). As a result, unless funds are reprogrammed in future budgets, the modification will not be fully installed until FY09. Unless the manufacturer is funded to procure all parts during the initial years of production, the interval of 11 years from first to final installation almost guarantees that the parts will be obsolete in future years. Unfortunately, MOSA was not incorporated into this redesign, so the cost of changes will be higher than they might have been.

In areas like avionics in which technologies are evolving rapidly, it makes little sense for design and implementation cycles to stretch out for many years. New designs or retrofitting modifications must be planned and implemented when relevant technologies are available. Therefore, at all levels of the system, parts/functional updates must be planned that minimize impacts on the unchanged hardware/software. In most cases, the window of availability is about five years, or at most ten years. To complete avionics modification

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FIGURE 4-1 Life-cycle mismatch. Source: Wasson, 2000.