Alan Shaffer, deputy acquisition chief of the Department of Defense (DoD), has said that digitization, model composability, digital engineering and modular open-systems frameworks are key to implementing advanced modeling and simulation techniques, DoD News reported Monday.
Shaffer told attendees at a National Defense Industrial Association (NDIA) virtual event that the U.S. military needs to implement new modeling and simulation approaches to accelerate the delivery of next-generation tools.
He cited approaches such as digital twins, digital engineering and other systems engineering concepts as key elements that could help the military prevent testing delays while reducing the time allocated for the acquisition lifecycle.
"Think about software that will allow us to support acquisition development, training of troops, and test, all simultaneously — I think it's within our grasp," said Shaffer.
He noted that the DoD needs to partner with the modeling and simulation sector to support acquisition, fielding and decision-making activities.