Practical Approach to Application of Sustaining Engineering Elements of Integrated Product Support(IPS)

Recently, ILS(Integrated Logistics Support) of the weapon system has been replaced by IPS (Integrated System Support) that optimizes both availability and reliability of weapon system, while reducing its total life cycle cost. The transition from ILS to IPS has brought about new understanding the concept of the support for weapon system and introduced new elements such as product support management, sustaining engineering and computer resources. One of the newly introduced elements, however, sustaining engineering is very difficult to be applied in the field practically. In this study, the problems related with the application of sustaining engineering element in Korea are reviewed, and the contents on the sustaining engineering element of IPS in Korean Ministry of National Defense Directive and those in US PSM guidebook are analyzed and compared. In addition, the practical application of sustaining engineering element in Korea is suggested based on the results of comparative study on the contents of sustaining engineering element in both Korea and US IPS related guides.