THE DESIGN OF AN OPTIMAL SPARE KIT FOR WEAPON SYSTEMS

One of the pending issues of the Ministry of Defense is the efficient management of space parts for the weapon systems. It has been known that more than 000 million dollars are needed for spare parts for the weapon systems annually. Though the problem demands a serious consideration, there has not been any systematic study on the problem as far as the author knows. One way to approach the problem is through an investigation of the system reliability under constraints. A measure of how well a system performs or meets its design objectives is provided by the concept of system reliability. If successful operation is desired for a specified period of time, reliability is defined as the probability that the system will perform satisfactorily for the required time period. This interpretation of reliability is normally applied to devices which are subject to random failures such as electrical or mechanical systems. It has been found necessary to express system reliability in terms of the reliability of the components or subsystems which comprise the system. The major subsystems of an aircraft, for example, include the electronics, powerplant, airframe and armament subsystems. Therefore, the optimal spare part kit can be found by maximizing the system reliability subject to cost or other constraints.