Structured risk modelling of naval aviation program life cycle integration and operation

A strategic capability of contemporary naval ships is the ability to launch and recover embarked aircraft such as helicopters in a maritime environment. Such operations are enormously challenging due to deck motion, limited landing space, visibility, ship's superstructure, etc. This places extreme pressure on the pilot, ship's crew and the platforms alike, making such shipboard operations the most dangerous of all helicopter flight missions. Therefore, the design and integration of equipment, systems and aids to ensure such operations are done as safely as is practicably possible presents ship builders, aircraft manufacturers, engineers and pilots with some extremely demanding and complex problems. Major naval ship design/build programmes that include an aviation capability will inevitably need to engage resources across multiple disciplines that include, but not limited to, engineering, design, logistics, administration, procurement, legal, alliance partners and the customer to manage project risks from the outset. This research highlights the need for a holistic/Systems Engineering approach that recognises risks across the wider ship programme, which can only be managed/resolved by cross-discipline collaboration. This paper presents a novel methodology to elicit risks qualitatively and models the relative risk profile of an aviation project throughout the ship programme life cycle. The use of an enterprise model based on the three \P" element methodology (3PE), product, process, people within an environment, has been developed. Furthermore, the research outlines a continuous management and visualisation approach that enables a process of dynamic analysis to both reduce and mitigate residual risks progressively throughout the project lifecycle to acceptable levels.