This book would certainly not have been possible without the contribution of certain persons. I therefore want to thank, first, my main supervisors throughout my career with Thales: Jean Riaillon, Laurent Portrait and Claude Sarno, who gave me the means to gain this experience.

For everything related to maturity, a special thank you goes to Serge Zaninotti, quality expert with Thales, and also the author of Chapter 2 on the notion of maturity and the “quality” aspects, and Serge Parbaud of Thales for his advice and always appropriate corrections. I would also want to extend my warmest thanks to Patrick Carton from Thales Global Service for the passionate technical exchanges we have had in recent years, his always apt remarks, his support and his listening.

Furthermore, I wish to thank Franck Davenel from DGA for our exchanges during PISTIS upstream study related to accelerated tests and burn-in, and to give my warmest thanks to Léo Gerville Réache for his valuable help.

Finally, I wish to thank my entire family, and particularly my wife, not only for bearing with me, but also for encouraging me while writing this book.