A Preliminary Study of Baseline Design Architecture Effects on Aircraft Redesign Risks

Abstract

Aircraft redesign process normally does not start from scratch and requires a well-defined reference baseline design as the starting point for redesign changes. In general, the baseline design is often chosen based on the closeness of its existing performance capability to the driving requirement. This practice essentially presumes that such condition guarantees a minimum amount of required redesign changes, hence the least development risk. However, it is argued here in this study that such notion can be misleading because risk also depends on the type and the extent of the changes. Instead, it is believed that the existing baseline design architecture is an important element that will influence its suitability for the redesign task at hand. Through a sample aircraft redesign case study, the possible effects of existing design architecture on the redesign process is demonstrated and highlighted.