TECHNICAL RISK ASSESSMENT: INCREASING THE VALUE OF TECHNOLOGY READINESS ASSESSMENT (TRA)

As the Army focuses to modernize existing ground vehicle fleets and develop new ground vehicle platforms, Program Managers are faced with the challenge of how to best choose a set of technologies for the vehicle that will be mature, be able to be integrated onto the platform, and have the capability to meet defined requirements. To accomplish this, the Tank Automotive Research, Development and Engineering Center (TARDEC) Systems Engineering Group (SEG) has championed the development of a methodology for executing Technical Risk Assessments, one of the components of the overall Risk Assessment. The Technical Risk Assessment activity determines critical technologies, assesses technology maturity, integration and manufacturing readiness, and identifies the associated technical risks of those critical technologies and other technologies of interest. A standardized set of criteria is being utilized by technology subject matter experts to perform the assessments, and has been used consistently across programs to achieve uniformity in results.