Gen. James Slife, the Air Force Vice Chief of Staff, is making it his priority to improve how the Air Force collects and utilizes its data. “I need help getting our arms around these problems. This is all within our reach, but we need innovative solutions,” Slife said recently. In support of Gen Slife’s DM priority, AFA WMC supported a recent Digital Roundtable event.
In addition to participating in the presented discussions (which are highlighted below), AFA WMC actively served on a panel focused on Digital Transformation and Digital Management, providing input and answering pre-set questions on how to advance an integrated development environment (IDE) across Program Managers, Engineers, and Cost Analysts. These inputs and recommendations will be use by the Department of the Air Force’s Digital Transformation Office to assist in implementing DM and DT more quickly and efficiently.
Regarding the DM/DT event itself - here are just a few highlights…
𝗠𝗿. 𝗥𝗼𝗯𝗲𝗿𝘁 𝗙𝗼𝗼𝗸𝗲𝘀 (𝗔𝗙𝗠𝗖/𝗘𝗡) – who leads the command’s transformation to digital materiel management initiatives - made these key points:
· We’re good at vertical platform integration, but we to substantially improve horizontal integration.
· Need to only spend money on systems that cross platforms, not supportive of one mission or platform.
· The Air Force's newly created Integrated Capabilities Command is meant to be the linchpin between the acquisition offices and operational commands to determine requirements for future systems
· DT and DM are critical components of willing the Great Power Competition
· Become familiar with the Air Force’s Digital Transformation Office
𝗖𝗼𝗹 𝗝𝗮𝘀𝗼𝗻 𝗔𝗻𝗱𝗲𝗿𝘀𝗼𝗻 - AFIT’s Director of the Digital Innovation and Integration Center of Excellence (DIICE)– made these key points (along with other of his staff briefing):
· DIICE will generate digital solutions centered on model-based systems integration efforts. DIICE focuses on four lines of effort: education excellence, research and technology transfer, consulting, and best practices.
· Cultural transformation will probably be more difficult than the technical digital transformation
· AFIT (Workforce Development) - classes open to industry if person is DMM focused (in-residence, on-line, or on location). Classes can be certificate or diploma related
𝗪𝗼𝗿𝗸𝗳𝗼𝗿𝗰𝗲 𝗣𝗮𝗻𝗲𝗹 - with representatives from multiple Ohio Universities and SOCHE – made these key points
· Regarding training a new DM/DT workforce...they’re not training the white collar or blue collar - 𝕓𝕦𝕥 𝕥𝕙𝕖 𝕟𝕖𝕨 𝕔𝕠𝕝𝕝𝕒𝕣
· They’re working with the government and industry on projections of workforce gaps…then working to fill those gaps with specific classroom instruction, as well as interns & apprenticeships, veterans, special needs, etc.
𝗜𝗻 𝘀𝘂𝗺𝗺𝗮𝗿𝘆 - Digital transformation in the Air & Space Forces, and our supporting industrial base, must be a critical initiative in 2024 and beyond. Big Data, AI, machine learning, digital modeling, and more, help make the aerospace design & testing process more efficient. All told, this could save billions of dollars & significantly reduce time to delivery.
