Achieving Affordable Operational Requirements on the Space Based Infrared System (SBIRS) Program: A Model for Warfighter and Acquisition Success?

Well defined, warfighter customer generated operational requirements are the most significant determinants of successful military systems. If the warfighter customers and the acquirers do a good job early of defining the operational requirements, the warfighters will have a much higher likelihood of obtaining a capable system that meets their needs in less time and at less cost. The Space Based Infrared System SBIRS Program, a complex system of systems satellite development effort, followed a different philosophy than was the norm to define and refine operational requirements that meet the needs of the warfighters. Drawing upon the management, systems engineering, and business reforms called for by several national commissions over the last 15 years and advocated by the Office of the Secretary of Defense, SBIRS followed three basic principles to produce an effective and affordable JROC-validated set of multimission operational requirements to satisfy several warfighter customers. These principles included 1 close partnership between warfighter customers users, operators and acquirers military acquisition personnel and defense contractors throughout the requirements generation process with the warfighters having the final decisions on operational requirements 2 disciplined system requirements and affordability analysis from a system of systems perspective, using cost as an independent variable and 3 streamlined business and acquisition environment. The SBIRS Program applied these principles within the basic existing Department of Defense acquisition framework. The SBIRS Program effectively overcame potential roadblocks to producing an effective warfighter-supported operational requirements document ORD in a severely constrained environment of competing customer and fiscal requirements priorities.