P-8A Poseidon Multi-mission Maritime Aircraft (MMA) Software Maintenance Organization Concept Analysis

Abstract

The Navy is developing a replacement system, designated as the P-8 Poseidon, for the aging P-3C Orion fleet of aircraft, expanding the mission profile to meet the requirements for its Multi-mission Maritime Aircraft (MMA). The Incremental acquisition approach leverages the Commercial-Off-The-Shelf (COTS) concept, using a modified Boeing 737 aircraft system. The concept integrates the COTS components with Government-Off-The-Shelf (GOTS) elements, including offensive and defensive systems, mission packages, and Operational Flight Profiles (OFP), as well as some newly developed systems. The COTS, GOTS, and newly developed systems are all software-intensive and drive the need for an effective software support architecture that necessarily combines commercial and Governmental entities. This research analyzes potential system software maintenance drivers, and presents advantages and disadvantages for three differing software support management options. The conclusions reached lead the researchers to recommend that an organic (Navy) software support management structure would be most advantageous.