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Overview

The Vision:  “One Team…One Digital Lifecycle Enterprise”

The Why:  The United States Air Force is the most capable and effective airpower in the world. However, potential adversaries are rapidly delivering new capabilities and are threatening, and in some cases surpassing, our military dominance. The increasing time it takes to field new capabilities is the greatest hindrance to maintaining dominance in the future. 

The Campaign:  The Air Force Materiel Command Digital Campaign is an AFMC coordinated effort to move the activities of our enterprise, government and industry, to modern digital capabilities and processes. The desired end state is a collaborative, integrated digital environment that guides, orchestrates, and delivers the means for each individual across the enterprise to access the data, functions and elements needed to do a his or her job in a purely digital manner. This includes all functions, from acquistion to sustainment and beyond, not just engineering. 

The End Game:  To deliver capabilities to our Air and Space Force at ever increasing speed and efficiency by designing, sustaining, and modernizing them in an integrated digital environment. 

News and Updates

‘Hitchhiker’s Guide’ offers parallels to Air Force digital journey
The 1979 classic science fiction comedy, “The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy,” by Douglas Adams, provided the inspiration for a recent journal publication exploring the quest to understand the Air Force digital realm and its implications for the Air Force future. In the "Hitchhiker's Guide to the Digital Engineering 'Galaxy,'" Thomas Lockhart breaks down the Air Force quest for digital transformation into three main bodies of knowledge: integration, understanding and cultural change. Key to the continued progress in the digital realm is continued collaboration with digital pathfinders, academia and industry, where lessons learned from others can act as a springboard for future efforts across the domain.
New AFMC office to drive digital transformation across Air, Space enterprise
Digital transformation leverages information technology and data to drive more efficient collaboration and weapons system development to bring capabilities to the warfighter faster and smarter. Faster development and deployment of technologies help the warfighter maintain a technological advantage over U.S. adversaries. The Air Force Materiel Command has established a new office to manage digital transformation activities across the Air and Space Force enterprise. The office will focus on creating a digital governance structure and facilitate on-going and new digital acquisition transformation activities across the enterprise. (U.S. Air Force graphic/Randy Palmer)
Defense, industry leaders talk digital transformation, ABMS at New Horizons
Adm. Chas Richard, commander, U.S. Strategic Command, Offutt Air Force Base, Nebraska, addresses defense and industry leaders from Hanscom Air Force Base, Massachusetts, during the AFCEA Lexington-Concord Chapter’s New Horizons 2021 March 17. The theme of the virtual event is “Accelerating Change -- Strengthening Partnerships --Securing the Future.” (U.S. Air Force photo by Mark Herlihy)
Bending the Spoon - Dr. Will Roper
In a follow-on to his Matrix-themed “There is No Spoon” treatise, Dr. William Roper, assistant secretary of the Air Force for acquisition, technology and logistics, released a sequel essay that establishes criteria for digitally-engineered programs, while revealing Next Generation Air Dominance has achieved e-Series status as the service’s next e-Plane.
gatewayONE, attritableONE test moves joint force one step closer to “IoT.mil”
An XQ-58A Valkyrie low-cost unmanned aerial vehicle launches at the U.S. Army Yuma Proving Ground, Ariz., Dec. 9, 2020. The acquisition team – comprised of Air Force Research Laboratory and Air Force Life Cycle Management Center personnel working in conjunction with Eglin Air Force Base, Fla.’s 46th Test Squadron – came together to conduct the historic test. (U.S. Air Force photo by Staff Sgt. Joshua King)
Roper joins first Digital Campaign virtual industry day
The Air Force Digital Campaign kicked off the first Virtual Industry Exchange September 21, hosting industry and academia to share the Digital Campaign strategy, invite input from the commercial and private sector, and to prepare participants for how the Department of the Air Force will conduct business in the digital age. (Air Force Digital Hangar illustration by Kenneth McNulty)
SECAF unveils new “eSeries” classification in nod to Department’s digital future
Secretary of the Air Force Barbara Barrett announced a new weapons system designator, the “e” series, at the Air Force Association Air, Space and Cyber Conference, Arlington, Va., Sept. 14, 2020. Aircraft, satellites, weapon systems and more that are digitally engineered will receive the “e” prefix.”
The New Digital Acquisition Reality
Dr. Roper Vision
AFMC Digital Campaign aims to modernize, streamline life cycle process
“Transitioning to a digital AFMC enterprise is a priority for our command and is foundational to our success in today’s adversarial environment. To continue to be the critical enabler for our Air Force and deliver capability at the speed of relevance, we need to leverage digital technologies to better enable a fully interconnected Air Force research, acquisition, test, and sustainment enterprise.” --Gen. Arnold W. Bunch, Jr., AFMC Commander. “
Digital Air Force
The new “Digital Air Force” initiative emphasizes reforms that harness the integrated strengths of a connected network of weapons, sensors and analytic tools.
Donovan stresses ‘Digital Air Force’s’ importance and necessity

Digital Guide Now Available!

To learn more about the Digital Campaign, internal Air Force personnel can visit the Digital Campaign Guide at:

https://usaf.dps.mil/teams/afmcde (CAC Required)

External customers can visit the public Digital Collaboration site on APAN at:

https://wss.apan.org/af/aflcmc/default.aspx

Note:  First time visitors to the APAN page will need to create an account to visit the site.

Contact Us

For more information on the AFMC Digital Campaign, contact the AFMC Digital Campaign team.  

Lines of Effort

The Digital Campaign consists of six Lines of Effort (LOEs). Each LOE is lead by a champion (team lead) and is supervised by an Air Force Life Cycle Management Center general officer and/or Program Executive Officer who helps to maintain the focus and drive the accomplishment of the campaign objectives.  

  • LOE 0: Integrated Environment – IT Infrastructure
    • Champion:  Richard Kutter 

    • PEO Advisor:  Maj. Gen. Michael Schmidt

  • LOE 1:  Integrated Environment – Models and Tools  ​
    • Champion:  Thomas A. Lockhart 
    • PEO Advisor:  Brig. Gen. Anthony Genatempo
  • LOE 2: Standards, Data and Architectures
    • ​Champion:  Mitchel B. Miller 
    • PEO Advisor:  Brig. Gen. Heath Collins
  • LOE 3: Lifecycle Strategies and Processes 
    • ​Champion:  Lansen Conley
    • PEO Advisor:  Brig. Gen. Ryan Britton 
  • LOE 4: Policy and Guidance 
    • ​Champion:  Thomas Doyon                                           
    • PEO Advisor:   Paul Waugh
       
  • LOE 5: Workforce and Culture 
    • ​Champion:  Jackie Janning-Lask                                   
    • PEO Advisor:  Maj. Gen. John Newberry 
       

The Strategy

An AFMC top priority is to transition the Air Force life cycle enterprise into one that leverages 21st Century digital technology to manage Air Force technical baselines from concept through sustainment. The Digital Campaign aims to create a technical environment that provides for the delivery of cutting-edge capabilities at ever increasing speed and efficiency by designing, sustaining, and modernizing them in an integrated digital domain.  
 
  • To address the increasing time to field capabilities, AFMC must become digital, matching many non-military industries that have widely embraced digital tools, processes, and approaches--greatly improving their time-to-market.
  • Transitioning to a digital AFMC enterprise is foundational to our success and will be the critical enabler to delivering capability at speed.
  • Digital tools and processes can improve time and efficiency in each acquisition phase. 
  • The expected outcome is to deliver capabilities at ever increasing speed and efficiency by designing, sustaining, and modernizing them in an integrated digital ecosystem. 
  • Air Force enterprise adoption of innovative product development methods, processes, and tools can improve time-to-field, program agility, quality, and cost. 
  • The coordinated effort is defined by six lines of effort. 
  • The integrated digital ecosystem will guide, orchestrate and deliver the means for each individual across the materiel enterprise to access the data, functions and elements needed to do their job in a purely digital manner:  all functions, not just engineering. 

EVENTS

 Virtual Industry Exchange Day

 Event Slides:  Virtual Industry Exchange Day Presentation

WATCH the video of the live event.

Industry Day Frequently Asked Questions

 Digital Campaign RFI

 The AFMC Digital Campaign has posted an Request for Information (RFI) on the BetaSAM website at https://beta.sam.gov/opp/795c2cd63e6e435eba9d5c4daef93a16/view?keywords=%22digital%20campaign%22&sort=-relevance&index=&is_active=true&page=1.

The RFI includes defining a standard set of Digital Engineering (DE) features that acquisition team members select from to meet their overall acquisition goals and objectives. Prototype, demonstration system and commercial buys may require a modest set of DE features, while major acquisitions for enduring product lines may require a full set of DE features. Acquisitions in between may require a different set of DE features.

The AFMC Digital Campaign has produced a set of slides and other materials available at the BetaSAM link to explain the concept and use of DE features, from Acquisition Strategy to Contract award. The team is requesting feedback on the approach. 

Visit the BetaSAM site to learn more.