A new culture is being established by extending the Pathfnders’ training programs throughout the workforce.
to solve supply chain challenges by additively manufacturing parts to support equipment maintenance. Commonality of parts enables ap - plications to other ground vehicles. For new programs like the XM-30, the digital twin can be a series of virtual prototypes directing the eventual physical prototype. Tenet 4. Develop Talent and Ex- pertise. The DE policy can be effec - tive only if the workforce is trained in tools and methods that foster knowl - edge, skill, and experience in apply - ing DE tools and techniques in their business area. As the Army began engineering the XM-30, additional training was needed for engineers to review models and provide feedback. A new culture is being established by extending the Pathfinders’ training programs throughout the workforce. The training with each Pathfinder was evaluated to match the skills needed to the job. Over 100 training oppor - tunities have been identified and grouped by program role and train - ing path and shared with the work - force. Training and outreach activi -
ties through the Army or all of DoW include the following: • The Warfighting Acquisition Uni - versity has created a large number of DE classes and workshops that are available at no charge to the Army community. Most are online and can be self-paced or instruc - tor-led. In contrast, the DE Man - agement Workshop is a three-day, in-person workshop that simulates a DoW acquisition program. • Army engineers were embedded into industry for six-month terms through the DoW Public Private Talent Experience (PPTE) program to learn best practices and estab - lish hands-on experience. PPTE assignments were arranged with MITRE, Ford, Siemens, Bell Flight, and Applied Intuition. • The National Center for Manu - facturing Sciences (NCMS) an - nounced an Army Digital Trans - formation Challenge to develop innovative and transformative technologies that enable the ac - celeration of digital transforma - tion across the Army. Sixty-four entries were submitted and the two winners were: IRONPIPE with Retrieval-Augmented Generation Capabilities: Revolutionizing Army Digital Transformation with Inter - net of Things and Generative Arti - ficial Intelligence, by Aptima, Inc.; and SBE Vision Digital Engineering Ecosystem, by SBE Vision. Transitioning to a DE Environment Some recent major acquisition programs by the Army have not been successful. Future Combat Systems (FCS) ran from 2003 to 2008 and was the most ambitious acquisition program in the Army’s history. After
cancellation in 2009, the FCS was largely regarded as an expensive fail - ure. Some of the reasons were poor analysis of cost, technical feasibility, risk, unrealistic and inflexible require - ments and timelines, and failure to apply DE approaches early on. As a follow-up to the FCS, the Ground Combat Vehicle (GCV) pro - gram was initiated in 2009. The first vehicle to be developed was to be an infantry fighting vehicle to re - place the M2 Bradley and to carry a full squad of nine soldiers. This re - quired a larger size and additional heavy armor, raising weight esti - mates up to 84 tons—heavier even than the Abrams. The program even - tually was canceled in 2014, largely due to budget reductions, escalating costs and weight, and mobility and transportability constraints. Similarly, the FCS and GCV pro - grams failed due to overambitious and misaligned budgetary realities. In both cases, expensive prototypes were built prior to cancellation. There was a failure to apply a DE approach to requirements early on, resulting in issues with requirements that were never resolved. In FCS particularly, new technologies were not ready when requirements were developed but were optimistically presumed to be ready when needed. Some of the most successful re - cent digital applications have used modeling and simulation (M&S) to reduce or replace physical testing. One example is automotive crash tests; the physical tests are so expen - sive that only large corporations and research institutes have the resources to support them. A single test dummy loaded with sensors can cost a mil - lion dollars. Finite element human models have been constructed and
The XM30 Combat Vehicle will serve as the U.S. Army’s infantry fighting vehicle to create an advan- tageous position and deliver a decisive strike, while also controlling maneuver robotics and semi- autonomous systems. Source: Image by Savannah Baldwin
50 DEFENSE ACQUISITION MAGAZINE | JANUARY – FEBRUARY 2026
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