Digital engineering can help introduce new weapons faster than acquisition reform

Using and encouraging digital methods in design and manufacturing could help the United States match or outpace its adversaries, according to a new report from the Mitchell Institute for Aerospace Studies, and top Pentagon and industry officials say they’re working on just that.

Digital methods go beyond computer-aided design because all participants in the design, development, testing and production enterprise can see the design in real time and be aware of any changes as they occur. This allows these efforts to continue simultaneously, rather than waiting to move from one phase to the next.

During the virtual launch of the new strategy document, analysts Heather Penney and Brian Morra said that digital engineering will accelerate the implementation of new systems much faster than attempts to reform and accelerate the existing acquisition system.

Jeffrey Reed, director of engineering/digital transformation at Northrop Grumman, provided tangible examples of this speed, saying his company has applied a digital approach to 140 programs and is seeing an overall increase in momentum. The company used “automated checks” to compare progress on old-style programs with digital programs and found that “revision rates were declining.”

Northrop found a “dramatic decline… in the total apples-to-apples comparison in hours needed to produce.” It was a “surprising decline” due to digital engineering, which “shifts the learning process to the left and causes you to do it earlier,” he said.

Gaining widespread acceptance of digital engineering is an ongoing process at the Pentagon. David Tremper, deputy assistant secretary of defense for acquisition integration and interoperability, said the Department of Defense is working to shift the “mindset” of the acquisition community to accepting and leveraging digital approaches.

Older employees, he said, may not trust the new format, especially since they have been assessed throughout their careers on how they perform under decades-old rules in takeover law. Younger workers, however, “demand” things be done in new ways. They have no patience for tedious, paper-intensive methods, he said. He added that new – and shorter – courses in the use of digital methods are needed at the Defense Procurement University.

“The department has created something called a digital engineering certificate,” he said. It’s a series of courses. These are five courses combined with several webinars that provide learning in digital engineering and acquisition programs. Since 2019, 1,200 people have completed the certification process and the process is constantly evolving.”

Senior acquisition specialists are coming in, he said, because they see that digital technologies make their jobs easier.

Penney and Morra argue that this support is crucial because the current, lumbering U.S. acquisition system for sequential development and production will not counteract the “breakneck” pace at which China is implementing new systems.

“China is ahead of us in the development and commercialization of advanced weapons systems,” Penney said. “They have 200 J-20s,” the prime minister said of the Chinese stealth fighter, comparable to the Air Force’s F-22, “and they are building more of them at a rate of 100 a year.” Let’s compare this with the recapitalization rates of the Air Force.

While foreclosure reform is a “noble” pursuit and should continue, digital technologies offer a faster way to catch up with U.S. competitors, Penney said.

“Digital engineering can accelerate the development and deployment of defense capabilities without requiring acquisition reform, which could have a very serious impact on our strategic position vis-à-vis China and Russia.” She cited Secretary of the Air Force Frank Kendall’s oft-spoken warning that “we are out of time” and need to find faster ways to correct the Air Force’s status as “the smallest, oldest and least ready that has ever existed.” it’s history.”

Penney said she and Morra originally intended this paper to be a “foundation” for digital methods and lexicography, but it became clear that digital technologies offered a faster way to achieve faster acquisition results, something reformers had sought for years. This dovetails well with foreclosure reforms and powers recently granted by Congress to skip steps and speed up programs.

Over the past three years, Air Force Materiel Command has been transitioning its processes to a digital approach and will use it not only at the beginning of programs, but also during the maintenance phase.

And while digital solutions work best on new systems like the B-21 and Next-Generation Air Dominance fighters, they can also be applied to older systems, Penney said. Creating a “digital twin” of a B-52 bomber wing could speed up the process of installing new design pylons and engines, as is the case with the B-52 Commercial Engine Replacement Program (CERP).

Generally, there has been a tendency to emulate the successes of lean organizations such as the Air Force’s Office of Rapid Capabilities, but Penney stated that these efforts were unsuccessful because their approach was impractical for large programs.

“These are important organizations that focus on a small number of, often top secret, capabilities,” she said. “These offices are fast and deliver good products, but their organizations and their approach are simply not scalable; consider all programs the Air Force has in its portfolio and recapitalization needs.”

Still, digital efforts are having good success by enabling all elements of the design, development and manufacturing enterprise to execute these phases in parallel rather than sequentially, and Penney and Morra in their report made six recommendations that can help with this process.

The Department of the Air Force should “encourage the use of end-to-end digital engineering” in new acquisition programs. This approach should be rewarded when concluding contracts because it will save time and money on development and maintenance.
DAF management should review all programs to see if they can be fully digital or “hybrid digital” programs, or how older (pre-digital) programs could benefit from some digital applications, and then implement them.
DAF management must invest in training acquired employees to understand and use digital tools and processes.
DAF leaders should promote “open standards” for digital systems so that programs can talk to each other and expand opportunities to reuse certain elements to save time, money and maintenance.
DAF should maintain a library of digital engineering tools and make it available to small businesses, sub-suppliers and other elements of the supplier base that may lack the sophistication to develop or purchase such tools themselves. It would also provide cyber resilience benefits, improve quality and “ultimately expand the larger digital ecosystem.”
DAF, its main contractors and their supply chains “must ensure the modernization and security of their IT infrastructure.”