Track 1 Session 8

2:10 to 3:10 p.m. Thursday, October 14, 2010

Reliability Management & FRACAS – Weapon System/Armament Life Cycle

Reliability and maintainability planning and management encompassing all phases of a weapon system life cycle are the only ways to ensure the system's reliability and operational availability. A weapon system is a complex mechatronics system that must be able to perform its specified functions in a wide spectrum of environments during its operation, storage and transportation. Thus, the reliability and maintainability requirements and expectations must be addressed right from the design process and sustained during the system life cycle. The reliability and quality problems that arise during the system life cycle are driven by design/process reviews, validation and verification, inspection, audits, change control and maintenance reviews as the weapon systems remain in use long past their intended service life. A Failure Reporting Analysis and Corrective Action System (FRACAS) is a useful tool in the achievement of system reliability and safety. It can be used to record all in-service failures and problems related to a weapon system and their associated root causes and failure analysis in order to undertake reliability operational assessment of the system.

Key Words: Reliability, Maintainability, FRACAS

Divya Prakash Joshi

Indian Navy