On the Process Improvement for Foreign Purchase Upgrade Programs in Weapon Systems Acquisition Based on Systems Engineering Method

It has been recognized that in keeping the national defense capability on a leading edge, not only the continued production of weapon systems but also the associated maintenance and upgrades are becoming the subjects of great importance. Based on systems engineering process, the domestic acquisition programs for weapons systems led by DAPA have made some advancement where both new systems development and systems upgrade have attracted attention. On the other hand, as a useful type of domestic acquisition the foreign purchase program has been conceived as a process of simply buying needed weapons from abroad. Therefore, if some degree of development is necessary in system upgrades by foreign purchase, many problems turned out to exist. To study a remedy is the objective of this paper. The issues are analyzed first and then a relevant process is proposed based on a systems engineering method. Also included in the improved process is on how to generate a requirement document and the corresponding template to meet the goals of the upgrades by development. By applying the proposed process and template in the foreign purchase upgrade programs, derivation of more appropriate requirements can be expected, thereby offering effective management of programs and target goals.