It is believed that the extension and application of operations research techniques to systems analysis can improve the basis for decisions on new airborne weapon systems. Although the surface has only been scratched in this field and many things are yet to be learned, experience to date has provided reason for confidence that these methods will prove to be reliable and useful tools for the executive over the years. As experience and know-how increase, and sufficient groups of qualified personnel become available in both industry and the military, such analyses should become recognized as matters of good business procedure. It is to be hoped that in the future standard practice both in industry and in the Department of Defense will require that systems analyses be performed in advance of all basic planning decisions for design and production of future weapon systems. Operations Research, ISSN 0030-364X, was published as Journal of the Operations Research Society of America from 1952 to 1955 under ISSN 0096-3984.