DFMA of a military test set: a case study

A Design for Manufacture and Assembly (DFMA) study was conducted on the TOW missile launcher test set in response to the challenges of today´s reduced defense budgets and continual measurable improvements (i.e., doing more for less). The primary goal of this study was to analyze alternative designs for the TOW test set in order to achieve the lowest possible manufacturing cost while meeting the customer´s new expectations for a fully automated closed loop test capability, enhancing test accuracy, reliability and maintainability without adding additional costs. The result is the Digital TOW Missile Simulator (DTMS), an in-the-launch tube tester which simulates all TOW missile functions and can ascertain the combat readiness of the full spectrum of TOW missile systems, at a substantially lower cost than previous testers