Defense Acquisition Management for Systems-of-systems

Abstract

The Department of Defense (DoD) has placed a growing emphasis in recent years on the pursuit of agile capabilities via net-centric operations. Dramatic technological advancements in communications and sensing have generated opportunities for battlefield systems to exploit collaboration for multiple effects. In this setting, systems are expected and often required to interoperate along several dimensions. Yet, the manner in which these system-of-systems are acquired (designed, developed, tested and fielded) has not kept pace with the shifts in operational doctrine. Systems acquisition remains largely focused on requirements for individual operation, paying insufficient attention to the ability of systems to influence the variety of future ecosystems in which they may subsist. Further, acquisition programs have struggled with complexities in both program management and engineering design. This paper establishes an understanding and classification of underlying complexities in the acquisition of system-of-systems. It also provides a conceptual model that exposes the connectivity between systems and the impact of system heterogeneity and externalities on that connectivity throughout the acquisition lifecycle. Implementation of this model in an exploratory simulation is in progress. Its objective is to allow acquisition professionals to develop intuition for procuring and deploying system-of-systems, providing a venue for experimentation and exploration to develop insights that underpin successful acquisition of SoS-oriented defense capabilities.