The Problem: Low Mission Ready Rates
Headlines like this one, “Air Force Mission Capability Rates Reach Lowest Levels in Years” are shocking. The article continues, “The average mission capable rate for all USAF fleets was 67.15 percent in fiscal 2024, down from 69.92 percent in fiscal 2023 and 71.24 percent in fiscal 2022. Compared to 2004-2006 and 2012-2024, years for which data was available, the 2024 rates were the lowest.” This is not just a problem for the Air Force as identified in the recent Navigation Plan for America’s Warfighting Navy 2024. Here, the CNO identifies several goals including ones focused on improving fleet and surge readiness as well as reducing delays in ship, submarine and aircraft maintenance.
I know from firsthand experience that the Marine Corps and Army are not immune to these challenges either. My time as the Chief Engineer of the US Marine Corps honed my laser focus on the young Marines whose very lives depend on our collective ability to make and keep them more capable. Subtle shout out to my brothers and sisters at the Marine Corps Tactical Systems Support Activity, MCTSSA, who continue as standard bearers for innovation within the Corps!
As also noted by some of our data wizards at EXPANSIA, this mission readiness deficit is a complex and multi-stakeholder problem involving Congress, military departments, acquisition community, sustainment organizations, and most importantly, the operational forces whose missions are ultimately at risk. Information exchanged between these stakeholders throughout product lifecycles can lead to supply chain gaps, confusion, duplication of effort, and ultimately result in platforms that are not mission capable when managed through legacy document-based processes and systems.
The Solution: Integrated Digital Environments
Part of the reason I joined EXPANSIA was the company’s shared focus on mission readiness, evidenced by our tagline of Mission Ready Now. Over the last few months, I’ve been privileged to work with the team in continuing to build on our successes in addressing this readiness challenge through several powerful technology services we call “the EXPANSIA Technical Way(s).” One Way in particular is our approach to managing complexity in the acquisition and system sustainment life cycle by using Integrated Digital Environments (IDEs).
Air Force Materiel Command described an IDE as the “collection of data, models, and tools for collaboration, analysis, and visual representation of work activities across all functional domains. It also includes guidance for the use of the data, models and tools in conjunction with processes and procedures to ensure results.” Much can be said about the “digital” and “environment” parts of this concept, but I would like to focus on the “integrated” aspect as it’s where EXPANSIA has placed significant emphasis and achieved great success.
There are a host of digital tools available in the modern engineering and logistics communities: requirements management, computer aided design, product and analytic life cycle management, agile project management, continuous integration/continuous delivery (CI/CD) pipelines, and a host of collaboration tools to name a few. While each of these tools provide incredible automation and digital data management features, most continue to operate independently even when installed alongside each other. EXPANSIA has focused on securely integrating these applications at the data level while ensuring the modularity of design that offers future flexibility to adopt new and maturing technology – we aren’t wed to a single software platform, and we don’t sell licenses. We provide technology-enabled solutions.
This integrated approach seamlessly connects disparate and legacy data sources enabling new insights into supply chain, design, interoperability, manufacturing, and distribution challenges. Insights directly feed workflows that allow program offices and solution providers to collaborate on a shared and authoritative source of truth. Testers are engaged early with enhanced understanding of new capabilities and the ability to develop automated and in-line verification and validation that ultimately supports decision making at the program manager and chief engineer level. The outcomes are decision advantage, faster capability delivery, innovative sources of supply, and ultimately an increasingly capable fleet that is mission ready now.
Integrated Digital Environments In Action
EXPANSIA is demonstrating this through the recently released AGORA solution developed in partnership with the Air Force Rapid Sustainment Office and with an aim toward accelerating the adoption of advanced manufacturing and perhaps one day the entire rethinking of manufacturing as we know it within the Air Force and Department of Defense. Highlighted as a tremendous advance by Lt. Gen. Donna D. Shipton, Commander of the Air Force Life Cycle Management Center, during recent remarks at the Military Additive Manufacturing Summit, AGORA is proving the value of this integrated approach that yields far more than the sum of its technical parts.
EXPANSIA continues to mature this Technical Way, forming a blueprint that has allowed us to rapidly integrate similar solutions tailored to the unique needs of Program Offices like the Air Force’s Next Generation Air-refueling System (NGAS), a tanker program that will perform refueling missions in contested airspace. Our unique understanding of the defense acquisition ecosystem and requirements as well as a team of wicked-smart engineers and those data wizards is truly putting the “Integrated” in IDEs. Ultimately, this approach will allow our dedicated Airmen, Guardians, Soldiers, Sailors, and Marines to accomplish their missions and come home safely.
Written by Tim Gramp, Chief Technology Officer at EXPANSIA.
A seasoned software developer and former Chief Engineer of the US Marine Corps, he leads EXPANSIA’s Technology & Innovation strategy, concentrating on enhancing DoD platform readiness through the implementation of digital modernization and differentiated supply chain solutions across the global landscape.