DEFENSE STANDARDIZATION PROGRAM

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This case study describes how the Navy

resolves technology obsolescence issues

that directly affect the operational capability,

safety, and reliability of almost every major

electronics system on Virginia–class

submarines. To date, the Navy has solved

approximately 1,000 obsolescence issues.

The solutions have resulted in more than

$96 million in cost avoidance.

Distribution Statement A

Cleared for public release by Public Affairs

1 October 2010

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cameras with light-intensification and infrared sensors, an infrared laser range finder, and an integrated electronic support measures system that provides

full-spectrum radar processing, automatic threat

warning, and situation assessment. Signals from the

masts’ sensors are transmitted through fiber-optic

data lines through signal processors to the control

center. High data-rate, multiband satellite communications systems allow simultaneous communication at an extremely high frequency. The state-ofthe-art sonar system has more processing power

than all legacy sonar systems combined to process

and distribute data received from its spherical bow

array, high-frequency array suite, dual towed arrays,

and flank array suite.

These and other design features make these new

submarines the most flexible in the fleet. Through

the incorporation of modular design techniques,

open architecture, and integrated commercial offthe-shelf (COTS) electronics components, the

Virginia–class submarines have the capability to

respond quickly to changing missions and threats, as

well as the capability to continually upgrade to

state-of-the-art technologies. In short, these new

submarines are designed to enable the Navy to

carry out its assigned missions well into the 21st

century.

Background

Designed by General Dynamics Electric Boat, the

Virginia class (or SSN-774 class) of submarines is

being built jointly under a teaming arrangement

between General Dynamics, Electric Boat Corporation in Groton, CT, and Northrop Grumman,

Newport News Shipbuilding in Newport News,

VA. The Virginia class is the first class of U.S.

submarines designed for a broad spectrum of openocean and littoral missions around the world. These

submarines have improved stealth, sophisticated

surveillance capabilities, and special warfare

enhancements to meet the Navy’s multimission

requirements. Those missions include antisubmarine

and surface ship warfare; covert long-term surveillance of land areas, littoral waters, or other sea

forces; delivery and support of special operations

forces; and mine delivery and minefield mapping.

With enhanced communications connectivity, the

Virginia–class submarines also can provide important

battle group and joint task force support, with full

integration into carrier battle group operations.

The Virginia–class submarines incorporate several

innovations. Instead of periscopes, the subs have

two extendable photonics masts outside the pressure

hull. Each mast contains several high-resolution

Defense Standardization Program Case Study

Obsolescence Management

for Virginia–Class Submarines

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Problem

Although the Virginia–class submarine is designed

for maximum flexibility, allowing for technological

insertion and innovation over the long term, obsolescence issues, particularly with electronics systems,

arise because of

■ the amount of time between the installation of

the electronics systems on a ship module and

the delivery of the ship to the Navy,

■ the amount of time between the start of construction of the first submarine and the delivery

of the last one with the same equipment configuration,

■ the submarines’ long service life, and

■ the rapid advance of COTS electronics technology.

The Navy currently has contracted for the acquisition of 18 Virginia–class submarines (SSN-774

through SSN-791). Construction of the SSN-774

began in September 1999, and delivery of the SSN791 is expected in 2019. The Navy may procure an

additional 12, for a total of 30 submarines, by 2025.

Not only is the construction program for these

submarines spread over some 25 years (depending

on the number ultimately procured), but the submarines are designed to remain state of the practice

for their entire service life—30 to 40 years—

through the introduction of new systems and

payloads.

The platform’s extended construction times and

long service life contrast sharply with the extremely

short times that electronics technology remains state

of the art. For example, microprocessor speed

doubles about every 18 months and fiber-optic

transmission capacity doubles in fewer than 8

months. Because of the rapid advances, new technology quickly becomes obsolete.

A key concern is the risk of the Navy being left

behind as manufacturers introduce new products

based on new technology and discontinue production and support of older items included in the initial designs of the various electronics systems.

Obsolescence issues impact both construction and

follow-on support of the submarines and their electronics systems, and they can result in increased

cost.

To ensure that the submarines remain up to

date, the program office in charge of the Virginia–

class acquisition (PMS 450), a component of the

Naval Sea Systems Command (NAVSEA), established the Virginia–Class Submarine Technology

Refresh Integrated Product Team (TR IPT) in

2001. PMS 450 charged the team with developing

low-cost solutions to obsolescence issues as they

arise.

The multidisciplinary team consists of engineers

and logisticians from PMS 450, Electric Boat, multiple system manufacturers, government in-service

engineering agents (ISEAs), participating manager

program offices, both divisions of the Naval

Undersea Warfare Center (NUWC), and the Naval

Inventory Control Point. The IPT is led by

NUWC, Keyport Division, in Keyport, WA.

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Approach

The traditional approach to resolving obsolescence

issues—or managing technology changes—related

to electronics systems is to redesign and integrate

new items as issues arise, or to procure large quantities of items at the circuit-card level (after estimating reliability and projected demand) to ensure the

availability of a lifetime supply of those items. The

traditional approach is costly and time-consuming

due to the cost and time of design and the cost of

having the platform (submarine, aircraft, or other

system) spend months in a depot for upgrades.

The Virginia–class TR IPT has taken a different

approach, one that was enabled by the Virginia–class

program office’s (PMS 450) decision, at the onset of

the Virginia–class acquisition program, to use modular design techniques, open architecture, and COTS

components, as follows:

■ The use of modular construction means that

numerous modules are built independently, by

different contractors, and then joined with the

hull sections to create the ship, much like modular houses are built. The module of particular

concern to the TR IPT is the command and

control systems module, which has two levels, is

60 feet long, and weighs some 200 tons. Electric

Boat is building this module, integrating COTS

command, control, communications, computer,

and intelligence systems designed and built by

various manufacturers.

■ The decision to use open architecture and

COTS components was based largely on the

success of the groundbreaking Acoustic–Rapid

COTS Insertion (A-RCI) program. Open architecture is used to develop information systems

based on COTS technologies and takes advantage of commercial standards, providing open,

nonproprietary solutions that better leverage

innovations, regardless of the source. In other

words, open architecture isolates the computing

infrastructure from the application, allowing rapid change and insertion of new capability.

The approach established by the TR IPT is proactive; in other words, the team identifies obsolescence issues affecting the Virginia–class submarines

before they impact ship construction and develops

timely solutions. The TR IPT’s approach has the

following elements:

■ Identify obsolescence issues early using the

Obsolescence Management Information System

(OMISTM) or via vendor monitoring efforts

■ Notify stakeholders that an issue has been identified

■ Identify all systems affected

■ Select a solution

■ Execute the solution

■ Measure and report results.

To ensure consistency and repeatability of results,

the Virginia–class Tech Refresh IPT has had a formal Tech Refresh Plan in place since January 2006,

which also meets all Diminishing Manufacturing

Sources and Material Shortages (DMSMS) plan

requirements, and a new project plan for managing

DMSMS issues is created annually. The team also

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has had a signed standard operating procedure and

charter since 2003. Defined processes are followed

in order to proactively identify and solve obsolescence issues as early as possible in the system life

cycle. When an obsolescence issue is identified from

any source, such as through active monitoring, or

from an end-of-life notice, a Tech Refresh Issue

(TRI) case is generated and tracked until final resolution is reached.

Figure 1 illustrates a high-level process for resolving Virginia–class obsolescence issues. Not only is

the process well defined and mature, but it is followed throughout PMS 450.

The TR IPT uses weekly teleconferences to manage and track the progress of TRIs through the

platform and system evaluation/resolution process.

Semiannual platform-level TR IPT meetings are

held to formalize communications of platform areas

of concern, assess the status of TRI resolutions that

involve design work, and stimulate discussion and

system technology issue reporting.

Identify Obsolescence Issues

Continual market surveillance is a key feature of the

IPT’s proactive approach. One aspect of the program is to obtain bills of material from commercial

product original equipment manufacturers (OEMs)

and actively monitor the status of the parts in

NUWC Keyport’s OMIS. OMIS is populated with

microcircuit-level information for the circuit cards

that make up various Virginia–class electronic systems. After this information is gathered, OMIS conducts a weekly health check of these Virginia–class

piece parts using an industry database. Using OMIS,

microcircuit experts at NUWC Keyport, in collaboration with system designers, assess the impact of

microcircuit production discontinuance plans.

OMIS provides intelligence regarding Virginia–class

designs often a year in advance of actual microcircuit discontinuance. This offers the greatest degree

of freedom to address problems at the lowest level,

usually at great program savings. OMIS contains a

variety of functions for use in resolving these lowlevel issues and future planning for the aggregate of

all microcircuits associated with the Virginia class. In

addition, the shipbuilder is responsible for monitoring the health of the commercial electronics used in

the system designs that it provides. The repository

of parts it monitors is updated with new information as technology refreshes occur.

Notify Stakeholders

The first step to resolving obsolescence issues is an

impact assessment for the users of a specific component. Because the Virginia–class submarine had

commonality initiatives and the systems are primarily designed using COTS electronics, many of the

parts used in the system designs are common.

Therefore, many systems can be affected by a single

obsolescence issue.

Identify All Systems Affected

To ensure that it identifies all of the affected systems, the TR IPT shares every new obsolescence

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issue with the Virginia–class community through a

process known as the platform impact assessment.

The notification process allows the team to identify

all of the affected systems on the platform and then

to apply a common solution. As a result, rework is

minimized. The process involves collaboration

among NUWC Keyport Division, NUWC Newport Division, and Electric Boat, as well as system

prime contractors and government and private-sector system designers. In addition, the team shares

the TRIs with the ISEAs for the affected systems.

All stakeholders notify the IPT whether or not the

issue will affect any of the electronic systems they

provide on the Virginia–class submarine. The team

also shares the TRIs, through a secondary distribution and notification process, with others who can

assess the issue for its possible impacts on other systems or platforms for which the Virginia–class TR

IPT does not have direct responsibility, for example,

NAVSEA 08 and the Space and Naval Warfare Sys5

Figure 1. High-Level Process Used to Address Virginia-Class Obsolescence Issues

Subsystems provide

responses

TRI IPT coordinator

collects the input

TRI IPT coordinator

distributes TRI to all

subsystems

Affected users

collaborate on

solution(s)

Populate TRI Part II

with solution

Send to TRI

coordinator

TRI coordinator

distributes TRI Part II

to the TR KPT team

TRI announced

at weekly TR IPT

telecon

Obsolescence issue

identified

TRI can be identified

and submitted by

anyone

Generate TRI Part I

Send to TRI

coordinator

TRI coordinator

distributes TRI Part I

to TR IPT KPT team

TR IPT

validates TRI

VALID

NOT

VALID

TRI IPT manages

resolution of TRI

Part II at TR IPT

weekly telecon

Execute

approved

solution

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6

tems Command. Roughly 60 individuals are notified of each Virginia–class–related obsolescence

issue.

Select a Solution

The central management function of the Virginia–

Class Tech Refresh IPT consists of several steps that

address obsolescence. Once all users are identified,

system engineers for each system propose obsolescence resolutions that are consolidated as much as

practical given unique system requirements. The TR

IPT coordinates and collaborates with the stakeholders to evaluate the alternative solutions. The

team meets regularly with OEMs and with corporate and government system representatives to discuss the obsolescence issues and to plan strategies

for mitigating those issues. The TR IPT also coordinates obsolescence mitigation with other planned

designed changes and subsystem upgrades. Resolutions are vetted by IPT staff members and functional experts for the following:

■ Technical appropriateness

■ Cost effectiveness

■ Conformance with Virginia–class acquisition

plans and contracts

■ Logistics and support needs

■ Virginia–class construction requirements.

Solution options are listed as follows:

■ Original component (CCA/module level)

● Existing stock

● Extend manufacturing

● Reclamation

■ Technology refresh design longevity (microcircuit level)

● Existing OEM stock (microcircuit OEM)

● Alternate microcircuit form, fit, and function

(FFF) item identified by CCA/module OEM

● Life-of-type (LOT) buy of the microcircuit

(ensures continued production at the CCA/

module level)

■ Substitute or FFF replacement (CCA/module

level)

■ Alternate source (CCA/module level)

■ LOT buy or bridge buy (CCA/module level)

■ Aftermarket source (CCA/module level)

■ Extended repair (CCA/module level)

■ Emulation (CCA/module or microcircuit level)

■ Reverse engineering (CCA/module level)

■ Redesign (minor)

■ Redesign (major).

If the solution to a particular obsolescence issue is

to buy spares, the TR IPT works with NUWC

Newport—the designated Virginia–class reliability,

availability, and maintainability authority—to estimate life-cycle spares needed, using a ReadinessBased Sparing model. This scientific, repeatable

model calculates both shore spares and on-board

repairs parts (OBRPs), using a continuous Poisson

distribution with a confidence level of 90 percent,

for the known mean time between failures, reparability, and duty cycle and for the support window

established for Virginia–class hulls. Considering the

results of the calculations, the team recommends the

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quantities of spares and OBRPs to be purchased.

Execute the Solution

The TR IPT is chaired by a PMS 450E staff member who moderates overall operation of the IPT;

manages issue resolutions; sponsors, as needed, PMS

450 authorizing correspondence; and manages tasking/funding for organizations that support it. The

TR IPT has the ability to resolve certain solutions

within predetermined budget constraints. If a solution falls outside of that window, it is presented to

PMS 450 for authorizing funding and contract

actions through the Navy’s Supervisor of Shipbuilding, Conversion and Repair.

To execute the chosen solution, resources are combined to determine a platform-wide resolution,

funding is consolidated, and procurements are combined, resulting in cost savings due to economies of

scale.

After the issue is resolved, the TR IPT closes the

TRI and updates OMIS, which users can access to

obtain the latest information about system health

and obsolescence solutions.

Measure and Report Results

The TR IPT uses the guidance of DSP’s SD-22,

Diminishing Manufacturing Sources and Material Shortages:A Guidebook of Best Practices andTools for Implementing a DMSMS Management Program, to measure

cost avoidance. The team tracks the cost avoidance

on every TRI and reports the metric monthly with

the cost avoidance for the month, cumulative for

the year, and cumulative since program inception.

This reporting enables the Virginia–class program

office to see the value in continued funding of the

obsolescence program.

Benefits

Since the program’s inception in October 2001, the

TR IPT has opened more than 1,000 TRIs for

Virginia–class nonpropulsion electronic subsystems.

These issues directly affected the operational capability, safety, and reliability of almost every major

system on the ship, including fly-by-wire and other

safety-of-ship systems. Of those issues, approximately 850 have been resolved, and the remaining issues

are being worked. Examples of the Virginia–class

systems with resolved obsolescence issues are Ship

Control, Circuit D, Sonar, Combat Control, Navigation, Photonics, Interior Communications,

Weapons Launch Control System, and Impressed

Current Cathodic Protection.

To date, the obsolescence resolutions developed

by the TR IPT have resulted in some $96 million

in cost avoidance. Over $10.1 million in cost avoidance have been achieved so far in FY10 (through

July 2010).

Not only has the Virginia–class obsolescence program resulted in lowering life-cycle sustainment

costs, but it has done so while maintaining operational availability and improving the capabilities of

the platform’s electronics systems. For example, ear7 Source: http://assist.dla.mil -- Downloaded: 2021-02-09T17:16Z

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ly monitoring of obsolescence issues has allowed

the prime integrator to meet many of the OBRP

requirements by making timely procurements, thus

having positive impact on the platform operational

availability. There are other specific cases in which,

later in the system life cycle, OBRPs have been

forced on the boats in order to increase operational

availability. There also have been numerous cases in

which stock on-hand as a result of case resolution

has allowed the shipbuilder to construct OBRPs to

meet the newly defined requirement.

Lessons Learned

Crucial to the success of the Virginia–class obsolescence program was the submarine’s design using

modules, open architecture, and COTS components. The following are the key lessons learned

from the Virginia–class program to proactively

resolve technology obsolescence issues:

■ Formalize the obsolescence program. The TR IPT

was established early in the Virginia–class acquisition program and reports regularly to senior

leaders. The team has had a signed standard

operating procedure and charter since 2003, and

it has had a formal DMSMS plan in place since

January 2006. Annually, the TR IPT creates a

new project plan for managing obsolescence

issues. Because its program is formalized, the

IPT can ensure consistency and repeatability of

results, enabling it to identify and solve obsolescence issues as early as possible in the system life

cycle.

■ Develop strong communication ties with program

managers, contractors, OEMs, and other entities that

may be affected by obsolescence issues. Regular

communication among all stakeholders fosters

effective coordination and cooperation in solving obsolescence issues and implementing

upgrades.

■ Establish a process for notifying all stakeholders when

an issue is identified. The notification process

developed by the TR IPT allowed it to identify

all of the affected systems and then to apply

common solutions. As a result, the same obsolescence issue rarely resurfaces, because the

effective team communications capture the issue

platform-wide the first time it is introduced to

the community.

■ Involve all stakeholders in identifying possible solutions to obsolescence issues. This approach provides

a forum for addressing platform impact, commonality, and logistics issues and results in the

selection of the best solution for the platform as

a whole. For example, stakeholders aware of

planned designed changes and subsystem

upgrades can share that knowledge with stakeholders whose primary concern is to mitigate an

obsolescence issue. Often, older components

can be replaced with new, more advanced components, improving overall system performance.

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DEFENSE STANDARDIZATION PROGRAM OFFICE

8725 John J. Kingman Road, Stop 5100

Fort Belvoir, VA 22060-6220

(703) 767-6888

dsp.dla.mil

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