Paper 1: Project Management of Bloodhound

The Bloodhound anti-aircraft surface-to-air defence project in two main Marks has been under development and in production for some 18 years, with total costs of well over £100 million. It has been subjected to about 20 different operational requirements, including the need to satisfy three Air Forces and an Army with different defence needs, there have been numerous reorganizations of the Ministries responsible for development and the companies concerned have been reorganized and in some cases merged.

The Guided Weapons (G.W.) team at the British Aircraft Corporation (BAC) responsible for Bloodhound has graduated from a single product line to a multi-project business and from developing a pilotless supersonic aircraft of unique design, to recognizing and handling the complete weapon system and the management tasks arising from substantial sales. The project started before sophisticated management techniques were respectable in England, but it has been found worthwhile to apply many of the principles and procedures even during the later stages. Major sub-contractors have been coordinated under a variety of contractual arrangements.

Despite its kaleidoscopic background, the project has been a successful one both for the company and the nation. A number of considerable risk situations have been dealt with as a result of successful negotiations between government departments, the company, the customers and the various sub-contractors.

A number of shortcomings on our techniques still exist and the paper concludes by suggesting priorities for management of future major systems.