▼

MoD Committee on Defence Equipment Reliability & Maintainability (CODERM) Report

Report from 17th June 2026

Recent Activity:

  • Knowledge in Defence (KiD) updates business as usual (accessible via the Defence Gateway).
  • Pain Point survey completed amongst CoDERM members, and follow up working group held.

Activities Planned:

  • Ongoing KiD Updates (internal focus for DE&S is to ensure policy and process remains current).
  • Further work planned on how to apply the proposed steps to improve ‘Requirement Setting’ (identified via the Pain Point survey).
  • Over the next 12 – 18 months, produce a Defence Standard (aligned with IEC 60706-5) to support DTs when contracting for Testability.

Standards Information:

  • Def Stan 00-040 pt 1 Issue 10 published on 14 Jun 26. This is a total re-write of the standard and is a significant change, moving away from an artifact-based approach to a standard that encourages contractors to design for reliability and produce the evidence to justify their argument that the product will meet the customers R&M requirements.
  • SAE 1025 now issued: This new standard will replace 1629A and be referenced (but not mandated) on KiD.
  • The following website was identified as providing a list of  the dependability definitions from IEC 60050-192 http://www.electropedia.org
  • ASD Standard

Health of the Competence – STEM Futures

  • Recognition of an ongoing issue regarding SQEP and importance to engage with academia / develop junior R&M practitioners.
  • A current priority is to ensure that R&M policy, process and guidance is optimised. In support of this, CoDERM is again requested to consider any perceived knowledge gaps or weaknesses in the extant published UK MoD provided R&M Policy, Regulation, Guidance and Advice, along with any suggestions you may have to improve its useability for the wider R&M community.

Reliable Software

  • Software reliability has been a longstanding topic within the community, with a range of methods being applied to approach the matter. In light of some significant software issues induced over recent times, a paper titled ‘The Need for Reliable Software’ has been written and initially discussed amongst the CODERM community – the paper and discussion explores: (a) The difference between hardware and software from a reliability perspective; (b) Foreseen shortfalls and issues with current approaches to software reliability; and (c) Potential next steps to pursue.
  • To this extent, a working group is being set up by DE&S, who in turn would welcome industry support and input to help develop future guidance on the topic. If you are interested in supporting this working group, please e-mail info@sars.org.uk (addressing your e-mail to the ETA Committee).