Enhancing Operational Realism in Test & Evaluation

The Test Evaluation TE community likes to talk about realistic operational testing. Today, weapons systems are being rushed overseas to face the real test in real - not realistic - operations. Our nation is at war and TE must do all it can in support. Rapid acquisition is a worthy response, and finding failure modes early is an obvious way to avoid delay when problems are discovered, avoid costly rework for the fix, or preclude fielding systems with problems. The need to find problems earlier is recognized inside and outside the Department of Defense DoD. DoD promulgated TE policy changes in a December 22, 2007, memorandum reprinted in the appendix following this article. The goal of this policy is early identification of technical, operational, and system deficiencies, so that appropriate and timely corrective actions can be developed prior to fielding the system. The focus of employing operational realism in early tests is on designing the system to operate effectively in the environment with threat conditions and with the system operators and maintainers anticipated when the system is deployed.