National Security Digital Thread Summit 2024 - Federal Aerospace and Defense Executive Exchange

The fireside chat will cover key national security priorities from the latest HASC perspectives, including developments on the NDAA, transitioning to digital in large acquisition programs, hardware and software integration, enabling mass in the Pacific, and innovations at key DoD offices such as DIU, CDAO, and OUSD R&E. The role of digital engineering in achieving strategic outcomes will also be discussed.

With the recent release of Dept of Defense Instruction 5000.97, the DoD has taken a bold step in requiring digital engineering technology for new acquisition programs. DoD Program Managers are now required to implement “digital engineering procedures as early in program planning as possible and across the system life cycle.” What will be the long-term implications of this policy inside and outside the DoD?

The discussion will focus on the connection between digital engineering technology and NASA's strategic goals, including deep space exploration and an increased focus on commercial technologies. Insights on potential approaches for NASA-wide digital engineering policy adoption will also be shared.

As of mid-2024, the collective contractual backlog for the five largest US defense primes exceeded $1T. Global demand is increasing rapidly and inventories need to be replenished. While differentiation to secure new programmatic franchises remains a priority, another issue facing executive leaders is how to accelerate the conversion of existing backlog into revenue at healthy operating margins.

Shifting Communication: Moving from Documents to Digital Models

• Software driven vs hardware driven architectures
• Driving faster, higher program/mission assurance

Leveraging the Digital Thread: Leveraging the downstream traceability and reuse of information to accelerate decision making

• EBOM > MBOM
• MBD for accelerating information reuse and improved quality
• Why are we not getting the gains we believe we should (what are the obstacles)

Agile Product Development and the role of AI: How do we transform the way we work to accelerate product/program delivery

• Why software differentiated products are breaking out vs hardware centric
• Where and when do we believe that AI will aid in the decision making
• Reduce and eliminate waterfall processes and software centric working methods
• Earlier visibility for program/mission assurance
• Organizational transformation

In the post-WWII era, the time to IOC for new US weapon systems was around 5 years. Recently, many major platforms have taken over four times longer to field. The discussion will explore how the commercial sector has accelerated new product introductions and how government and defense stakeholders may reimagine velocity within their own enterprises.