The development of a verification and validation (V&V) plan for a proposed tactical engagement simulation system for the AH-64D attack helicopter

Advances in weapon systems technology creates the potential for increased warfighting capability, These advances simultaneously create the need for effective simulation systems of these contemporary technologies, The credibility and capability of these weapons systems Models and Simulation (M&S)are evaluated by a Verification and Validation (V&V) process,typically performed during the system development and subsequentDevelopmental Testing (DT). The tactical effectiveness and suitability of the integrated system are then evaluated throughOperational Testing (OT). Historically, the tasks associated with DT and OT are performed by separate organizations in isolation.This thesis proposes a methodology for the Verification andValidation of the weapons systems models implicit in the AH-64DLongbow Apache Tactical Engagement Simulation (TES) System,addition, this thesis develops a V&V plan to evaluate the simulation provided by the integrated Longbow TES system, The Design of this plan provides for the simultaneous collection ofOT data to support system suitability evaluation. This will reduce future OT requirements, thus decreasing the time required for the acquisition cycle. This proposition of performing theTES V&V as a combination of DT (V&V) and OT supports the rapid prototyping philosophy which is useful in proving the concepts of new technology and complex systems.