Methods of Risk Assessment and Risk Management in the Field of Defense Products Certification

The purpose of this study is to identify directions for developing the risk management system for defense product certification programs based on the new edition of the ISO 31010:2019 risk management—Risk assessment techniques standard, which comes into effect on December 31, 2023, taking into account the best practices of risk management and the specifics of defense procurement. The system of national legal regulation of risk management in the field of defense products is just beginning to develop. In Ukraine, for a long time, the issue of risk management in the defense sector was regulated exclusively by legal acts of the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine, which approved the Procedure for Internal Control and Risk Management, which took into account mostly risks in the field of defense. Defense programs are highly complex systems consisting of hardware and software, multiple vendors, rapid technology changes, and obsolescence issues, and their inefficiency poses high risks to the nation’s defense capability and personnel safety. In the contrast to NATO, Ukraine had a dichotomy rather than synergy between the military and civilian sectors. The entry into force of international standards ISO/IEC 31,000, 31,010, 31,004 in Ukraine creates a regulatory framework for such synergy. In Ukraine, a wide range of defense programs stakeholders have begun to accept risk management as the main management tool, even though the standard is not mandatory and do not directly regulates the certification procedures; and more and more certification bodies are relying on it, recognizing its value and benefits.