US Air Force Awards $8.6M for Digital Engineering Hub

The Industry Øne initiative builds on past successful projects, including Flyer Øne and Model Øne. Flyer Øne, a partnership with the Air Force Research Lab and Lockheed Martin's Skunk Works, is pioneering digital certification for the X-56A aircraft, aiming to create the world's first digitally certified airplane. Model Øne focuses on breaking down barriers for cross-domain collaboration by linking models and simulations across the Air Force. Leading Istari Digital is CEO Will Roper, who previously served as the Assistant Secretary of the Air Force for Acquisition, Technology and Logistics. This background gives him direct insight into the persistent challenges Industry Øne aims to address: fragmented IT environments, incompatible software tools, and stringent security requirements that hinder collaboration and slow down development across the defense industrial base. The core problem being tackled is that defense programs rely on thousands of suppliers using incompatible tools behind separate firewalls, forcing manual data sharing which surrenders control and introduces risk. Istari's platform enables a vendor-neutral, interoperable "Internet of Models" where organizations maintain data sovereignty behind their own firewalls while models interact through controlled, auditable interfaces. This approach mirrors the experience of "Git across guarded firewalls," allowing data to remain locally controlled yet be globally connectable. This contract is part of a larger Department of Defense (DoD) push to formalize digital engineering, moving from a document-based approach to one driven by digital models to create an authoritative source of truth for program data. This strategy is deemed essential for managing the complexity of modern defense systems and accelerating the fielding of new capabilities. The adoption of agentic AI is a key driver behind this digital transformation, promising to speed up production, reduce complexity, and improve decision-making in global supply chains. By automating tasks like material allocation and assembly line scheduling, and coordinating robotics and IoT devices, AI is expected to significantly shorten production timelines. This allows for more rapid and dynamic allocation of resources to sustain operations, particularly in contested environments. As AI becomes more integrated into military logistics and decision-making, governance becomes a critical concern. The DoD is actively developing policies to ensure AI is used responsibly and ethically, aiming to minimize unintended bias and maintain human oversight. There is a growing international dialogue focused on establishing shared principles and a unified regulatory framework for military AI to address humanitarian and ethical issues.