US Army digitization and open architectures for avionics

There are key technology and acquisition issues of prime importance to the US Army as it develops plans to provision warfighters with capabilities that harness computing power to enhance combat power in the next century. This harnessing of computing power is the crux of the Army's "digitization" efforts. A critical component of this "digitization" provisioning will be a dependence upon industry standards and commercial best practice in system engineering and development, e.g., Acquisition Reform. This paper discusses issues related to the Department of Defense's (DOD) acquisition reform initiatives and how some of the challenges associated with Army "digitization" under these initiatives can be overcome through open architecture definitions. The paper also presents strategies on how the DOD and industry can help each other transition to the new acquisition and business environments precipitated by these initiatives.