Digital Acquisition: A Catalyst for Acquisition Transformation
Jorge Esparza, Ph.D., and LaRonda Conley, Ph.D., confront the widening gap between legacy acquisition processes and the pace, complexity, and competitive demands of mod - ern warfare. By framing digital acquisition as an enterprise catalyst grounded in digital engineering, leadership align - ment, and architecture, the authors offer a unifying lens for understanding why policy intent alone is insufficient. In concluding the issue, this article establishes the strategic rationale of this special issue of the magazine. HAVLICEK is a professor of Engineering and Technical Management at the Warfighting Acquisition University and an early author of the digi- tal acquisition policy in the U.S. Air Force Office of the Chief Engineer. His background includes a combined 32-year career as a U.S. Air Force officer and federal civilian of engineering and operations research. He holds a B.S.E. in Industrial and Operations Engineering from the Univer- sity of Michigan in Ann Arbor, an M.S. degree in Acquisition Logistics from the Air Force Institute of Technology (AFIT), and a graduate certificate in Operations Research (Human System Integration) from the Naval Post- graduate School. He also earned doctoral candidacy at AFIT in Opera- tions Research. SCALCO is a professor of Engineering at the Warfighting Acquisition University. Her career spans more than 25 years in systems engineer- ing, cybersecurity, and DoW acquisition, including as an Information Security Systems Designer (ISSD) at the National Security Agency. She received the Department of the Navy Civilian Service Commendation Medal in 2025 for her contributions to national security as a designated Navy Cyber Subject Matter Expert for Mission Critical Control Systems. She holds a Ph.D. in Systems Engineering from Colorado State Univer- sity, an M.Eng. from Iowa State University, an MBA from the University of Phoenix, and a bachelor’s degree in Journalism from the University of Missouri. The authors can be contacted at Jeffrey.Havlicek@waru.edu and Aleksandra.Scalco@waru.edu . The views expressed in this article are those of the authors alone and not the Department of War. Reproduction or reposting of articles from Defense Acquisition magazine should credit the authors and the magazine.
8 DEFENSE ACQUISITION MAGAZINE | SEPTEMBER –OCTOBER 2026
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