The Department of Defense (DoD) laid out new guidance on Dec. 22 covering how digital engineering practices should be implemented and used for developing and sustaining defense systems at the Pentagon.
Digital engineering – defined as “using and integrating digital models and the underlying data to support the development, [testing] and evaluation, and sustainment of a system” – will serve to reinforce the DoD programs and systems for research and engineering operations as well as acquisitions programs.
“[Digital engineering] Is a critical practice necessary to support acquisition and sustainment in an environment of increasing global challenges, complexity, dynamic threats, rapidly evolving technologies, supply instability, and increasing life expectancy of DoD systems currently in operation,” the Pentagon said.
The guidance document signed by Heidi Shyu, the undersecretary of Defense for research and engineering at the department, aims to facilitate expansion and adoption of digital engineering principles across the department’s workforce.
“As part of an ongoing effort with the Defense Acquisition University, the DoD workforce will have access to training and education to use digital engineering concepts,” the Pentagon said
“The DoD workforce training will include an understanding of digital engineering principles, awareness of the available digital engineering capabilities, and the use of the digital engineering capabilities,” the agency said.
As part of the digital engineering push, DoD is asking program managers (PMs) and other agency personnel and stakeholders to take steps to further the policy’s aims. “PMs should use existing DoD or Military Service-level digital engineering resources to the maximum extent possible before investing in new digital engineering capabilities,” the guidance states.
