A Reliability Analysis of Recoverable Missiles

-Missiles with built-in recoverability features have been of interest to most missile firms and many related firms for some time. In order to evaluate the adequacy of recoverable missile performance, it is frequently necessary to answer such questions as, ``With what probability will m such missiles yield a total of N or more successful flights?'' or, ``How many missiles should be allocated to a test program in which N or more successful flights must be realized with probability Q?'' Answers to these questions are obtained in terms of three basic reliability characteristics: 1. probability of a successful flight, 2. probability of recovering after a successful flight, and 3. probability of recovering after an unsuccessful flight. In addition, a decision rule is derived for selecting the ``best'' reliability program.