Abstract
Modern weapon systems are getting more complex in terms of the functionality and also the conditions on the environment and range in which they are deployed and used. Therefore, many development programs can easily be exposed to a variety of risks, resulting in delayed schedules and cost overrun. As such, effective means are necessary to keep the defence budget at an affordable level while competitive edges on technological aspects are retained. As one way to meet those need, modeling and simulation (M&S) methods have widely been used, particularly in the test and evaluation (T&E) process for weapon systems development. The result of M&S-based systems development should be evaluated by the verification, validation & accreditation (VV&A) process to assure keeping reliability at a desired level. On the other hand, due to the explosiveness, the weapons systems development naturally requires to consider safety issues in both the T&E and operational periods. The purpose of this paper is to improve the VV&A process by reflecting the safety requirements therein. To do so, the VV&A process has been analyzed and graphically modeled first and then safety elements have been incorporated effectively. The use of the improved process in the war ships development has also been discussed. Based on the process proposed and the consequent database constructed, the target system can be expected to benefit from reducing development risks while assuring systems safety.