Enabling Operationally Adaptive Forces

Abstract

Emerging warfare trends demand an operationally adaptive force, ready to adjust material solutions, such as systems and systems integrations, in near real time. Software is the most important element of those changes. The DoD has a poor track record with software development, as well as in requirement development, semantic interoperability, and cyber awareness and defense, to name just a few. Mechanical and aeronautical engineering migrated to machine-based designing and testing two decades ago, with transformative results. Software engineering has lagged in this transformation, but our research shows that it has reached the tipping point. What does this mean for the DoD? It means that formal models will enable very rapid capability development, integration, test and evaluation, semantic interoperability, and cyber assessment and remediation, changing the way the entire DoD acquisition enterprise performs. We envision a virtuous improvement cycle where costs spiral down, speed to capability accelerates, and performance increases, all due to formal models.