Department of the Air Force Technical Architecture Design, Integration, and Evaluation

Abstract

The Department of the Air Force (DAF) Technical Architecture Design, Integration, and Evaluation activity resources two primary pillars - (1) DAF Architecture Design and Integration and (2) DAF Architecture Demonstration and Evaluation - to address critical gaps and move the DAF toward a superior architecture grounded in superior capabilities. This PE is not a new start, funding is realigned within the Department of the Air Force to this standalone PE to better align DAF objectives, since the DAF Technical Architecture, Design, Integration, and Evaluation activities enable open and integrated architectures across the entirety of the Department rather than any single program. Potential adversaries are modernizing faster than anticipated. They are advancing individual systems while bringing families of systems (or systems of systems) together into an architecture to deny U.S. interests and counter potential U.S. action. One such example is the increasingly coupled investments and integration of space, air, and maritime sensing with long-range missile systems. The mix of capabilities and the integration of capabilities are just as important as the individual systems themselves because they have to work together in order to achieve the necessary operational effects and do so on increasingly rapid timelines. Successful companies follow a similar approach across product lines, and the same approach is needed for the DAF. The DAF must not only invest in superior capabilities but also invest in superior architectures that enable those capabilities to both integrate and modernize. First, the DAF Force needs a technical architecture that couples with operational mission threads, such as Decision Superiority and Information Advantage, Agile Combat Employment with Distributed Operations and Layered Defense, Rapid All-Domain Kill Chains, Logistics Under Attack, and Space Defense. The Department does not have an integrated reference architecture. Therefore, it should not be a surprise if capabilities do not work together as desired or the technical achievements fail to match the desired operational effects intended by warfighters across the Air Force and Space Force. An integrated architecture is necessary and must regularly and dynamically mature as threats advance and new technological opportunities arise. In other words an architecture must play both defense and offense effectively to adapt to these challenges and opportunities. This architecture must also flex vertically - meaning programs and platforms themselves must be built with agility via open systems and open standards so that they can adapt and upgrade components quickly in response to threats or opportunities to integrate technology as advances are made. While having an integrated architecture is far too uncommon in the Department of the Air Force, it is a standard commercial practice. Efforts in this arena often fail to produce the desired results as organizations often stop at the "blueprint” phase or the design phase and fail to move from a great design into mission-ready capabilities on the battlefield. Therefore, the next pillar is a critical companion to achieving results. Second, the DAF needs to experiment with and test these systems of systems. The Department of the Air Force does not have a deliberate campaign that integrates demonstration and evaluation at the force-level (i.e., architecture level). Great designs may not have traction when meeting reality, and traditional system-level testing and experimentation are not designed to yield insights into the effectiveness of capabilities working together to achieve integrated mission effects. This is the perennial problem of not demonstrating and evaluating like one fights. Architecture Demonstrations and Evaluations, which were originally conceived to be focused on networking, ultimately serve a much broader purpose in highlighting architecture gaps and potential solutions. By taking Architecture Demonstrations and Evaluations to the field, the Department of the Air Force has uncovered mission-critical gaps that might not have been found at test ranges—meaning they would have been discovered on the road to conflict when it would likely be too late to correct. Therefore, a regular campaign of learning at the architecture level—with demonstration and evaluation of how and where the Department of the Air Force fights is critical to moving to a deliberate approach that impacts overall architecture design, investments, requirements for future capabilities, and acquisition baseline updates for current systems. This activity is directed by the Chief Architect of the Department of the Air Force with oversight by the Secretary of the Air Force alongside the Chief of Staff of the Air Force and Chief of Space Operations. This activity is executed by the Air Force Research Laboratory. This program element may include necessary emergent or unanticipated civilian pay expenses required to manage, execute, and deliver Department of the Air Force Technical Architecture Design, Integration, and Evaluation for emergent or unanticipated weapon system capability. The use of such program funds would be in addition to the civilian pay expenses budgeted in program element 0605831F. This effort is in Budget Activity 4, Advanced Component Development and Prototypes (ACD&P), because efforts are necessary to evaluate integrated technologies, representative modes or prototype systems in a high fidelity and realistic operating environment.

Document Details

• Document Type: Project
• Publication Date: Oct 01, 2022
• Source ID: 645352_0604006F_4_3600_PB_2022

Tags

Readers

• Civilian Systems Systems Program Capability Development and Upgrade Support Activity Expense and Pay Management.
• Enterprise Information Systems Architecture and Joint Command Capability Interoperability Support.
• Systems Analysis and Design

Technology Areas

• Space