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7.4.1 Rapid Development Case Study: Lessons Learned From Arming the C‐145 Skytruck
Author(s) -
West Timothy D.,
Colombi John M.
Publication year - 2014
Publication title -
incose international symposium
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
ISSN - 2334-5837
DOI - 10.1002/j.2334-5837.2014.tb03177.x
Subject(s) - thunder , process (computing) , stakeholder , identification (biology) , computer science , engineering , systems engineering , process management , software engineering , engineering management , management , programming language , botany , electrical engineering , economics , biology
This paper examines Project “Tropic Thunder,” a US Air Force effort to integrate a 0.50 caliber machine gun onto the C‐145 Skytruck. The paper compares the project with relevant literature to determine where the project does and does not alignment with other rapid development models, revealing shortfalls in stakeholder identification and requirements definition that significantly delayed the project. Ultimately, the system works as desired, the design proved to be flightworthy, and the User was happy with the results. However, more up‐front rigor in the systems engineering process could potentially have resulted in a similar level of technical performance, only faster and cheaper. The case depicts the importance of the initial steps in the systems engineering process to the overall success of a rapid development effort.