Navigating Innovation: MBSE Adoption at Turkish Aerospace

Abstract

Turkish Aerospace has been developing indigenous aircraft design for 30 years with a well-defined systems engineering methodology in line with the guidelines of INCOSE. However, in parallel to the improvements in technology, the aircraft systems have evolved to be more complex, requiring new solutions to support the complexity and an increasing demand to reduce the time to deliver. Complex Aircraft Design contains many system designs, including advanced avionics, communicating through integrated network systems, and communicating with assets outside of the aircraft. The development of this complex system pushes the limits of traditional Systems Engineering approaches, necessitating new methods to manage the increasing complexity. Model-Based Systems Engineering represents a modern approach to Systems Engineering, shifting the focus to using models as the primary source of information for developing complex systems. As Model-Based Systems Engineering aids in tackling the intricate challenges inherent in advanced technologies, Turkish Aerospace has decided to transition to Model-Based Systems Engineering for the new Complex Aircraft Design Project. Turkish Aerospace traditionally relied on conventional Systems Engineering practices, where standalone documents served as the primary artifacts for system development. As a result, the organization has had limited experience with Model-Based Systems Engineering and how to effectively implement it in practice. This lack of familiarity created challenges in adopting the new approach within the organization. In this paper, Turkish Aerospace shares their experience transitioning from the traditional to Model-Based Systems Engineering, discussing the transformation process, issues, and practical insights. Prior to this specific case, a typical MBSE adoption process is presented.