Military System Reliability: Some Department of the Air Force Contributions

This report discusses the evolution, since the formation of the Department of the Air Force in 1947, of the Air Force's administrative policy concerning the reliability of complex military electronic equipment and systems. It describes developments in defining and regulating the contractor reliability effort and the monitoring and advisory activity of the Air Force procuring agencies. By reference to numerous policy statements made by the Air Force, the report demonstrates that, within only a few years after its first stated concern regarding reliability, the Air Force has succeeded in developing a reliability program which is sufficiently detailed and integrated to provide substantial assurance of reliable equipment.