A Systems Engineering Approach to Simulation Based Acquisition (SBA)

Modernization of defense industry has come a long way technologically. The complexity and sheer magnitude of modern weapon systems represents a major design challenge. The involved life-cycle support of those systems is very complicated. All of those added together will make the cost of any new weapon system prohibitively high. Facing this new challenge, United States Department of Defense (U.S. DoD) proposes an initiative, namely the Simulation Based Acquisition (SBA), to reduce the acquisition cycle. This initiative has significantly impacted the manner in which new weapon systems are concepted, designed, integrated, tested, produced, and supported throughout their life cycles. This paper presents a systematic approach to this DoD initiative. It leverages past experience in research and development in system integration related technology. Combining with lessons learned from executing modern weapon systems development, this process has the potential to provide the industry with a standard SBA process.