Applicability of Industrial Test and Evaluation Practices to Future Nuclear Weapons

Abstract

This report presents trade study methodology for alternative test and evaluation (T&E) strategies that provides some early indicators of efficacy by application of the method to future nuclear weapons (NWs). Identification of strategies for trade studies can be hampered by subjectivity or incompleteness, effectively limiting the scope of such studies by unconscious bias. This methodology seeks to formalize the identification process by which alternatives, evaluation criteria and weighting factors are derived. The method identifies characteristics specific to the example system, identifies products or engineered systems that share some of those characteristics and a description of the T&E strategies used by these industrial analogues. Application of industry paradigms to NW T&E results in some obvious challenges, given the distinct business environments and product requirements involved in the nuclear weapons enterprise. However, a framework for performing trade studies can be generalized for use by others using the methodology developed for this study.