INDUSTRY PERSPECTIVE: Transforming Acquisitions With Digital Electronic Systems Engineering
At the 2024 Air, Space and Cyber Conference, Norm Augustine was presented the Lifetime Achievement Award, rightfully recognizing his significant contributions to aerospace.
With the many achievements cited, there was a glaring omission. There was no mention of his entertaining and clairvoyant book, “Augustine’s Laws.”
When he was undersecretary of the Army, he made a series of tongue-in-cheek observations on the Defense Department acquisition process, noting that while every new system relied on more sophisticated electronic designs to provide a linear increase in warfighting capability, this reliance also resulted in an exponential increase in development, operations and sustainment costs. This was the basis of his famous, and often-quoted, Law 16:
“In the year 2054, the entire defense budget will purchase just one aircraft. This aircraft will have to be shared by the Air Force and Navy three and a half days each per week except for leap year, when it will be made available to the Marines for the extra day.”
It’s puzzling that the Defense Acquisition University hasn’t made “Augustine’s Laws” required reading because what was an anecdotal observation has become a self-fulfilling prophecy.
Despite many valiant efforts, the Pentagon has yet to break this law on any of its new systems. Some argue that the increased level of sophistication justifies such acquisition cost and schedule growth. For that reason, the defense industrial base argues that this increased sophistication implies that they will be “inventing” while they are developing, hence the need for cost-plus-fixed-fee acquisition programs.
And while both the Defense Department and Congress have implemented policies and guardrails to prevent acquisition cost and schedule overruns, the quote by Rep. Jack Bergman, R-Mich., has never been more accurate: “There’s never enough time to do it right, but there’s always enough time to do it over.”
And with defense acquisition programs, time means money.
But the automotive industry “broke” Augustine’s laws. Before you dismiss it as irrelevant, here’s an inconvenient truth: it takes 8 million lines of software to operate the F-35 and 150 million lines of software to operate an F-150 truck. And only one offers a bumper-to-bumper multi-year warranty.
Today’s automobiles are much more sophisticated than defense systems. And when a new car is purchased, the buyer expects a quality product that’s affordable to operate and sustain. What they don’t realize is that through automatic, over-the-air software updates, today’s automobiles are also agile to modernize.
They expect the same from smartphones, computers and smart appliances. Today’s commercial products are even more reliant on sophisticated electronics than Defense Department systems. And the companies developing these products do it on a fixed-price and a firm, fixed schedule — “can’t miss Christmas” — basis.
This was confirmed by the Government Accountability Office report, “Leading Practices: Iterative Cycles Enable Rapid Delivery of Complex, Innovative Products,” which found that commercial companies use class-leading emulation systems to test and evaluate before fabricating.
Through the development and use of hardware-accurate digital twins, electronic systems hardware and software designs are co-developed and co-verified using universal verification methodology. Needed changes to both the hardware and software are made prior to physical hardware/product fabrication, ensuring that the first product assembled is a sellable product. This “shift left, look right” product development process ensures the on-time, on-schedule development of a quality product that delights the customer and avoids liability.
The GAO study confirmed that digital electronic systems engineering practices using hardware-accurate digital twins are commercial best practices. The benefits to the acquisition process are self-evident.
For the most part, the defense ecosystem does not understand these practices. Prejudiced against anything new, the “experts’” instincts are to state that implementing commercial best practices introduces risk. But through several funded pilot projects — all of which have been successful — these guardians of the status quo have been proven wrong.
The Air Force Research Laboratory has taken a monumental step forward to transitioning these practices to all acquisition, operation, sustainment and modernization programs by announcing their new digital twinning facility at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base. Funded by the F-35 Joint Program Office, this facility is more than just another addition to the military infrastructure — it signifies a vital shift towards modernizing aerospace and defense design techniques.
For those of us invested in maintaining a technological advantage for the United States and its allies, this development offers a glimpse into the future of innovation.
This initiative will implement cutting-edge commercial digital engineering practices. The move is particularly crucial as programs like the F-35 face challenges from schedule delays and complex hardware upgrades. By leveraging digital twinning, the lab aims to create hardware-accurate virtual models of systems like the F-35. Essentially, these digital representations allow engineers to simulate performance, validate designs and streamline production processes.
It’s a game-changing approach for large-scale systems that are as intricate as they are mission-critical.
In short, the prompt and prudent use of this facility by both the joint program office and the F-35 users will eliminate the expensive hardware and software mistakes that have plagued the aircraft’s TR-3/Block 4 development.
But this isn’t just about fixing delays in one program. The facility will extend the lab’s digital twin capabilities to all defense acquisition programs, including operations, sustainment, modernization and science and technology. With the Pentagon doubling down on advanced technologies, this investment positions the United States to outpace global competitors while driving efficiency and reliability in development cycles.
What’s particularly exciting is how the lab’s adoption of digital twin practices mirrors those already proven in commercial industries, as cited by the aforementioned GAO report.
These techniques, employed by leading electric vehicle and space transportation companies, are the same tools driving innovation and efficiency in the private sector. The “Magnificent Seven” elite U.S. companies rely on these capabilities to achieve on-cost, on-time product development.
The results? High-quality, “crazy great” products that are affordable to buy, cost-efficient to maintain and flexible enough to modernize quickly. When these commercial best practices are infused into defense projects, they hold the potential to radically enhance affordability, precision and adaptability in national security technologies.
The Air Force Research Laboratory facility also includes a new class-leading computational fluid dynamics supercomputer. The rapid generation of high-quality synthetic data will enable generative AI to quickly identify optimal system design solutions without compromising accuracy.
It’s clear that adopting digital twins transforms how systems are built and maintained. Instead of risking costly and time-consuming physical prototypes, digital twins allow for predictive analyses and early identification of risks. This means smarter decisions, optimized designs and faster time-to-field for critical technologies.
As exciting as these advancements are, they can’t thrive in isolation. Innovation must span agencies and industry partnerships to be truly impactful, and that’s where these solutions shine.
Having the same electronic system emulation systems and prototyping platforms used by the “Magnificent Seven” proves that the Pentagon supports such disruptive projects. Whether simulating the performance of next-generation radar systems or assessing mission-critical avionics, these tools provide the best-in-class infrastructure needed to innovate confidently.
The defense ecosystem needs to appreciate that there are no shortcuts to doing the right thing. Relying solely on model-based systems engineering and focusing exclusively on software formal verification while leveraging commercial off-the-shelf electric hardware has lead to failure.
And these failures will be used by the guardians of the status quo to prevent the needed implementation of digital electronic systems engineering and hardware-accurate digital twins.
The combined promise of AFRL’s digital twin facility using class-leading, state-of-the-art platforms pushes the boundaries of what’s possible in aerospace and defense. It’s about regaining the competitive edge and ensuring that national security is bolstered by resilient, efficient and cutting-edge technologies. ND
James Chew is senior global group director for aerospace and defense at Cadence Design Systems and chair of NDIA’s Science and Engineering Technology Division.