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Technology Readiness Assessment for the Nuclear Weapons Program
Author(s) -
Bell R. Glenn,
Venkatesh Srini,
Bruns Caroline W.
Publication year - 2018
Publication title -
incose international symposium
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
ISSN - 2334-5837
DOI - 10.1002/j.2334-5837.2018.00482.x
Subject(s) - scope (computer science) , schedule , baseline (sea) , maturity (psychological) , technology readiness level , scrutiny , process (computing) , risk analysis (engineering) , systems engineering , engineering management , nuclear weapon , technology development , computer science , early adopter , emerging technologies , process management , nuclear technology , engineering , nuclear power , business , manufacturing engineering , ecology , artificial intelligence , law , political science , biology , programming language , operating system , psychology , developmental psychology , oceanography , geology
Technology development is typically the process of developing and demonstrating new or unproven technology, the application of existing technology to new or different uses, or the combination of existing and proven technology to achieve a specific goal. Technology development associated with a specific acquisition project for nuclear weapon typically should be identified early in the project life cycle and its maturity level should evolve to a confidence level that allows the project to establish a credible technical scope, schedule, and cost baseline. Projects that perform concurrent technology development and design implementation may run the risk of proceeding with an ill‐defined project baseline. In the climate of declining federal budgets and increased budget scrutiny, it is prudent to determine—as early as possible within a program schedule—the viability of technologies, and the ability of those technologies to support a specific project as well as the overall U.S. nuclear deterrent mission. This paper describes the approach and tools used within the nuclear weapons programs for assessing the maturity of technologies and their readiness for insertion into the project design and execution schedule.