The Missing Link: ACQUISITION REFERENCE ARCHITECTURE by DR. ANANDI SINGH
The U.S. Department of War (DoW) needs a single, unified digital architecture to modernize digi- tal acquisition. The Acquisition Reference Architecture (ARA) addresses this need by offering a microservices-based system built on standardized, reusable, and interoperable parts for busi- ness, weapons, and C5ISR (Command, Control, Communications, Computers, Cyber Intelligence, Surveillance, and Reconnaissance).
The ARA, along with the Govern - ment Reference Architecture (GRA) and Contractor Reference Architec - ture (CRA), forms a layered frame - work that gives both government and industry a shared foundation. This article explores the ARA’s design, strategic benefits, policy alignment, and how it can be put into practice (Figure 1).
Modern defense acquisition de - mands swift adaptation to chang - ing threats, yet many DoW initiatives rely on fragmented, program-spe - cific architectures. The absence of a top-down standard forces repeated reinvention, increases costs, and slows delivery. The ARA is proposed as the miss - ing link: a comprehensive, microser -
vices-based reference architecture that serves as the authoritative foun - dation for digital engineering across the DoW acquisition life cycle. The ARA decomposes complex ac - quisition capabilities into small, inde - pendent, loosely coupled microser - vices aligned with core domains (i.e., weapons, C5ISR, and business enterprise systems). Each microser -
16 DEFENSE ACQUISITION MAGAZINE | SEPTEMBER –OCTOBER 2026
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