Technical Management of Missile Systems

Capability and economy in complex missile systems demand fundamental changes in technical management. Improvement can begin with military requirement, development, and procurement agencies in their management of the initiation and follow-up of the project. Of greatest importance is the complete involvement of senior technical personnel in conception and development, apart from auxiliary service and supervision. Formal organization and responsibility of the systems engineering staff provide the technical management key to this problem. Reliability requirements of complex missiles seem to have confounded technical management. Yet the physical work necessary to develop equipment reliability parallels standard procedure for building in other required characteristics.