World-class engineers in the U.S. Army and our industry partners are developing new ways to strengthen our fghting forces and meet future challenges. However, these solutions often lack in- teroperability—solutions developed by one group cannot be easily transferred or used by another.
Currently, the warfighting acqui - sition system is document-intensive and stovepiped, which leads to long development times and solutions that are difficult to change and sustain. Army digital engineering (DE) efforts are creating a transformation to meet new threats, maintain overmatch, and leverage technology advancements. In June 2018, then Office of the Deputy Assistant Secretary of De - fense for Systems Engineering de - scribed a DE Strategy for the DoD. DE was defined as “an integrated digi - tal approach that uses authoritative sources of system data and models as a continuum across disciplines to support life-cycle activities from con - cept through disposal.” The goal is to eliminate stovepipes of knowledge, foster exchange of historical media (e.g., electronic documents or slides) associated with data or models, and move from manual processes to an all-digital environment, all while ac - celerating a notoriously cumbersome acquisition process. In 2019, the Digital Modernization Strategy was released. DE was refer - enced as a way to improve rapid tech - nology deployment processes, par - ticularly acquisitions. In fact, DE has the potential to rapidly develop and field new low-cost capabilities, inde - pendent of acquisition reform. Legacy tools such as Computer-Aided Design (CAD) and Computer-Aided Manufacturing (CAM)
coupled with modern IT capabilities have made DE possible. DoD Instruction 5000.97, Digital Engineering, was published on Dec. 21, 2023, by Office of the Under Sec - retary of Defense for Research and Engineering. Under the 2023 policy, the department is to use DE method - ologies, technologies, and practices across the life cycle of warfighting acquisition programs. DE is to be ad - dressed in the acquisition strategy with directions on how it will be used in the system life cycle and expected benefits. Army Science Board To advance the DE effort within the Army, the 2022 Army Science Board (ASB) was charged to deter - mine what the Army can learn from others to accelerate successful adop - tion of DE across all aspects of its enterprise. This mandate resulted in an ASB Quick Reaction Study lasting from April to July 2023 involving in - terviews with DE practitioners from the Army, other military services, and industry. The goal was to understand near-term investment strategies and Army-industry interactions. The ASB approached the issue of “Why DE” by stating that it will add quality, the basis for rapid design op - timization; agility, by enabling down - stream acquisition and sustainment efficiencies; and speed, through en -
hanced acquisition and development. Data will be connected by a digital thread, a digital framework that con - nects data across the entire product life cycle. The study noted existing issues in DE transformation. Success in a few acquisition programs is not shared or applied across multiple programs. Furthermore, industry is using DE as a standard way of doing business, and the Army needs to catch up and recog - nize that DE is not limited to engineer - ing or materiel acquisition but must be applied across all stakeholders. DE Strategy and Army Directive The ASB’s recommendations were used to develop a DE Strategy for the Army that was announced by former Under Secretary of the Army Gabriel Camarillo at the 2023 Association of the United States Army conference. Deputy Assistant Secretary for Data, Engineering and Software Jennifer Swanson was assigned to carry out the strategy. The goal was to con - vert the current policy of working in nonstandard siloed engineering en - vironments with manual processes and nondigital media to a desired fu - ture state with a workflow integrated across the life cycle. This would pro - ceed from operational capability, requirements, acquisition, test, and finally to sustainment to ensure that the most current authoritative data are used and connected via digital threads (Figure 1). Development of virtual prototypes of new systems are expected to reduce the signifi - cant costs of developing physical prototypes. In keeping with the department’s goals for DE, Camarillo issued U.S. Army Directive 2024-03, Army Digital Engineering, on May 21, 2024, that en - ables the Army to rapidly adopt and institutionalize modern digital engi - neering practices. The directive’s four tenets follow:
Te goal is to eliminate stovepipes of knowledge, foster exchange of historical media (e.g., electronic documents or slides)
- associated with data or models, and move from manual processes to an all digital environment, all while accelerating a notoriously cumbersome acquisition process.
JANUARY – FEBRUARY 2026 | DEFENSE ACQUISITION MAGAZINE 47
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