Speed to Field Is Becoming a Design Requirement

By Mitch Stevison
CEO, Frontgrade Technologies
Colorado Springs, Colorado

For decades, speed in defense acquisition has largely been discussed as a procurement or manufacturing challenge. Today, it is increasingly becoming a design requirement. The current environment is putting renewed pressure on government and industry to replenish inventories, increase production and move critical capabilities into the field faster. But increasing output is not as simple as asking for a production line to move faster.

The ability to scale is often determined much earlier.

The electronics selected for a system, the interfaces connecting them, the qualification strategy, available manufacturing capacity and the resilience of the underlying supply chain can all determine how quickly production can respond when demand changes. That matters because modern mission systems are increasingly electronics intensive. Radar, missile defense, electronic warfare and space architecture depend on sophisticated RF, processing, communications, power, microelectronics and control products working reliably together. Three principles are becoming increasingly important.

First, design for production not only performance.

The highest-performing technology has limited mission value if it cannot be produced reliably at the volume and pace the customer ultimately requires. Producibility, component availability, qualification and supply-chain resilience need to enter engineering decisions earlier.

Second, design for change.

Threats and technologies will continue to evolve faster than many platforms. Modular approaches and well-defined interfaces can make it easier to insert new processing, RF and other electronics without unnecessarily redesigning or requalifying an entire system.

Third, investment needs to move ahead of demand.

Industry cannot wait until requirements are fully mature to invest in technology, manufacturing capacity, workforce and critical suppliers. Government and industry need partnership models that create enough visibility and shared commitment to invest earlier.The companies that create the greatest mission advantage will increasingly be those that can do more than develop exceptional technology. They will help customers integrate it faster, produce it reliably, evolve it over time and field it at scale.

That is what delivering at the speed of mission increasingly requires.