941. An Approach to System Cost Optimization
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Paper
Abstract
Characteristically, in the past, aerospace systems have been developed with system performance as the most significant parameter to be optimized. Economic pressures have begun to introduce system cost as one, if not the most, significant optimization parameter. This evolvement has opened a new avenue for Weight Engineers to participate in the design decision process because of the interplay between hardware cost and hardware weights. No longer will the ‘best’ weight necessarily be the minimum weight or the performance-optimized weight. It more likely will be the weight of the cost-optimized system.
This presentation describes a system cost optimization technique which has been developed and utilized in various Boeing in-house and contract studies. First, the background of this work will be identified. Then, a recent application of the technique will be described along with an identification of the baseline system developed, the subsystems which were optimized and the results obtained. Finally, certain considerations which must be given to applying this technique to air-carried missile designs will be discussed.
