CREATE/ERS: Department of Defense acquisition reform through resilient engineering and virtual prototyping in a digital environment

The USA faces a multitude of threats to its national security and international interests in an era of exponential technology growth and unprecedented access by anyone with a smartphone. Traditionally, the acquisition of US defense systems has relied on sequential methods of conceptual design and development. While successful in the past, these methods are time consuming and in danger of creating vulnerability gaps that could limit or constrain US response options. The challenge is clear. Either the US Department of Defense (DoD) evolves the way it plans, develops, buys, and manufactures new weapons systems, or it cedes the high ground to a rapidly changing global environment. Adapting and expanding advances in high performance computing (HPC), developing and employing complex physics-based software tools for high fidelity modeling and simulation, and implementing a vision that combines these elements with other processes are critical enablers the DoD is pursuing. This paper describes the synergy of three major DoD efforts designed to address needs in the areas of acquisition program development and execution: the DoD High Performance Computing Modernization Program (HPCMP) (the DoD HPCMP began as an Office of the Secretary of Defense program in 1992; in October 2011, leadership transferred to the Assistant Secretary of the Army for Acquisition, Logistics and Technology; the US Army Corps of Engineers Engineer Research and Development Center manages the program, https://www.hpc.mil/index.php ) Computational Research and Engineering Acquisition Tools and Environments program; the Engineered Resilient Systems program; and the DoD Digital Engineering vision.