WASHINGTON: The Air Force will be holding its first Digital Engineering Pitch Day early next year, seeking industry innovations to improve software, tools and the fidelity of models used to virtually develop new weapon systems, says Rich Tempalski, the service’s chief modeling and simulations officer.

“We really fully believe our partnership with industry is key to delivering our better capability to perform at a more efficient pace,” he told the National Training and Simulation Association’s 2020 Virtual Interservice, Industry, Training, Simulation, and Education Conference today.

Chosen vendors, who had until Nov. 5 to apply to participate, will be eligible for a Phase II Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) grant for up to $1 million each over a 27 month period.

“Digital Engineering depends on the creation of nearly perfect virtual and digital models and environments, harnessing their full power to learn and experiment so the actual, physical systems are fully integrated and tested before production,” the Pitch Day solicitation provided to industry explains. The goal is to provide the Air Force the ability to much more rapidly move from design to fielding of new weapon systems — on a near continuous basis as cutting-edge technology becomes available to integrate in follow-ons.

Air Force Secretary Barbara Barrett, speaking yesterday to the US Chamber of Commerce, stressed the service’s commitment to digital engineering as a foundational element of how the service will be doing business from now on. “Digital engineering isn’t an option … it’s essential. It’s faster, it’s cheaper, it’s better,” she said.

Pitch Days are a key tool in the Air Force’s efforts to use novel acquisition methods to speed development and procurement. Working through AFWERX, the service’s innovation hub, Pitch Days are aimed at enticing non-traditional commercial companies and startups to bring their ideas to the Air Force, noted Eileene Vidrine, Air Force chief data officer.

“I would just say to industry, you know, keep bringing it keep coming to us keep participating and keep bringing your new methods and ideas,” she said. “We’re learning from industry as we go.”

The Air Force has articulated three key principles for achieving its digital engineering goals, according to the Pitch Day solicitation:

  1. Own the Tech Stack – The tech stack consists of all data, models, software, and associated infrastructure needed to create and optimize a system’s lifecycle digitally. Owning, sharing, and furnishing the tech stack allows the Air Force to operate on common infrastructure and achieve almost complete information transparency with the vendor performing the work. Each tech stack layer should be a manageable portfolio of competing offerings, certified to integrate while preserving digital threads.
  2. Warp from Tech Stack to Edge – Deployment of software technologies to the edge, an operational system in near real-time speed is the ultimate goal. Owning the tech stack provides assurance what works in development can be precisely replicated on AF weapon systems without requiring extensive software regression testing or serial verification and validation.
  3. eCreate Before You Aviate (Kudos to clever person who came up with that one!)– The opportunity to design, build, and test countless designs before building the physical system. Rather than “fly before you buy,” digital engineering and management allows the AF to reduce the real-world learning curve, the need for physical prototyping, and modifications between production blocks.

Vendors are being asked to bring ideas for the following technologies and processes related to digital engineering: “virtual work environments, rapid prototyping and demonstration, infrastructure operability, big data management, analysis, and visualization, linking disparate data sources and systems, digital thread and digital twin, 3D printing/additive manufacturing, advanced architecture tools, advanced logistics tools, 2D to 3D conversion/validation, augmented/virtual reality, cyber security, decision analysis, model based systems engineering, model based engineering, software visualization, and cloud/high performance computing (HPC) cost effective infrastructure.”