Simulation and Modeling for Acquisition, Requirements and Training (SMART)

Abstract

Modeling and Simulation (M&S) has long been used by Program Managers to support system development. Such M&S effort has normally constituted a small part of the overall program, been very specific in nature and not concerned with integration or collaboration with other acquisition activity. Shrinking Defense Budgets and increasing modernization-funding shortfalls, however, have recently prompted the Department of Defense (DoD) Acquisition policy to require M&S play an integral and much larger role in a program's acquisition strategy. The DoD name for this initiative is Simulation Based Acquisition (SBA) and is intended to reduce cost, cycle time and risk while increasing fidelity and utility of systems fielded to the Soldier. The Army has named its SBA initiative Simulation and Modeling for Acquisition Requirements and Training, or SMART. As its name implies, SMART goes beyond just the integration of modeling and simulation into a system's acquisition program. It seeks to accomplish the goals of SBA by leveraging information technology to support concurrent and continuous collaboration of the acquisition, requirements, and training communities early and throughput a system's life cycle. This collaborative process will play a vital role in supporting Army modernization and re-capitalization by enabling the Acquisition Community to deliver affordable systems in less time and with more utility. Three salient questions to this relatively new process are: (1) what does a SMART program look like? (2) what are the benefits to be gained by SMART? (3) what is the Army doing to enable SMART, and what are its major challenges? The intent of this paper is to answer these questions in a manner that leads the reader to conclude that SBA is a SMART acquisition approach for the Army and that SMART does have a significant role to play in supporting Army modernization.

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Document Details

Document Type
Technical Report
Publication Date
Apr 10, 2000
Accession Number
ADA376362

Entities

People

  • Damian P. Bianca

Organizations

  • United States Army War College

Tags

Communities of Interest

  • Human Systems
  • Weapons Technologies

DTIC Thesaurus Topics

  • Engineering
  • Executives
  • Governments
  • Internet
  • Life Cycle Costs
  • Life Cycle Management
  • Life Cycles
  • Management Personnel
  • Military Training
  • Prototypes
  • Students
  • Systems Engineering
  • Systems Management
  • Test And Evaluation
  • Virtual Prototyping
  • War Colleges
  • Weapon Systems

Readers

  • Defense Technology Research and Development.
  • Enterprise Information Systems Architecture and Joint Command Capability Interoperability Support.
  • Systems Analysis and Design