Defence to build 'virtual environments' to model decisions and systems

Defence will stand up “virtual environments” in which to experiment and test decisions and systems before they are delivered by industry.

The department has unveiled a digital engineering strategy that outlines plans to use data-driven models, including digital twins, to aid in innovation and procurement.

“Technological advances in processing capabilities and computing speed empower this paradigm shift from the traditional design-build-test methodology to a model-analyse-build methodology,” Defence said in its strategy.

“This is accomplished through integrated modelling of systems and systems of systems. 

“This approach can enable Defence to experiment and test decisions and solutions in a virtual environment before they are delivered to the Australian Defence Force.”

In a statement, Defence said the new strategy would help it “to speed up capability acquisition and address operational gaps.”

It is somewhat based on similar works conducted by the US Department of Defense.

The strategy highlights a significant amount of work to prepare data across Defence to be ingested into models and other virtual environments.

“Shared authoritative data serves as the central reference point for models,” it said.

“Defence will use authoritative data to produce digital artefacts, support reviews, conduct analyses and trades, and inform decisions.

“Defence’s vision is to build an enterprise capability that securely leverages data and analytics to enable insights and achieve faster and better data-driven decisions by capturing and continuously assessing engineering data as the missions, capabilities and products evolve.”