An Agile, User-Centric Approach to Combat System Concept Design

Abstract : Purpose of this paper is defining a framework for the "Warfighter-Centered Design (WCD)" of new concepts for naval combat systems. This framework explicitly takes into account the business value of WCD with respect to safety, optimal manning and reduced lifecycle costs. WCD improves safety because lack of usability can lead to serious consequences; the analysis of the accident of USS Vincennes clearly shows that the combat system exhibited serious usability problems both in estimating the altitude trend of an air track and in the IFF identification. WCD holds also a significant economic value because it reduces the lifecycle costs related to ship manning and training and allows optimal solutions to the evolution to asymmetric and littoral warfare. Warfighter-Centered Design is not a methodology or a set of techniques, but an integrated approach to product concept design that focuses explicitly on the needs and limitations of the warfighter. It is based on user involvement, iterative prototyping and user-based assessment and it can focus on the different levels of the Command Information Center organization and consoles.