Case Study: Test Methods

Client: Norwegian Defence Procurement Division
Contract Date: 2005 – Present

Contract Type:

Customer 'friend' for the introduction of a Command and Control and Network Management multi-terminal MIDS/Link 16 system.

The introduction of the Norwegian Ground Infrastructure for Link 16 (NORGIL) system presented numerous challenges to our customer, one of which was reviewing the test methods that the contractor had applied to the various phases of the project lifecycle and ensuring that they were ‘sensible’ i.e. were the test methods appropriate to ensure comprehensive and thorough testing of the NORGIL system.

As a customer 'friend' to the Norwegian Defence Procurement Division (NDPD) we were tasked to review the Integrated Test, Evaluation and Acceptance Pan (ITEAP) which contained the description of the integration and test activities.

3SDL applied a pragmatic approach when reviewing the NORGIL test methods and where the test methods were placed in the programme. Based on experience gained from previous projects we were able to highlight potential areas of risk in the system design which allowed us to focus on more robust testing methods for that element of the system. We suggested to our customer that a live System Acceptance Test (SAT) phase should be conducted on the NORGIL system. Taking into consideration the routine operational requirements of the NORGIL system we designed tests with the Norwegian Advanced Surface to Air Missile System, Fridtjof Nansen Class frigate, F-16s and an E-3A i.e. those assets that the NORGIL system would exchange Link 16 information with on a daily basis when in service.

The live SAT assisted our customer in identifying several major issues with the system as well as demonstrating interoperability issues with the participating test assets. The results of this testing enabled the customer to seek improvements from the contractor in line with the contractual obligations, prior to the system being accepted into service.

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