US Air Force Awards $8.6M for Digital Engineering
The Department of the Air Force has awarded an $8.6 million contract to Istari Digital. The funding will establish Industry Øne, an initiative designed to accelerate digital transformation and break down digital engineering barriers across the Defense Industrial Base.
The Industry Øne initiative directly tackles a core problem in defense programs: thousands of suppliers using incompatible digital tools behind separate firewalls. This fragmentation forces collaborators to manually copy and share data, which slows down development and introduces security risks. The new approach will allow engineering data to be connected and accessed securely without centralizing or copying it, letting each organization maintain control over its own data. Leading Istari Digital is CEO Will Roper, who previously served as the Assistant Secretary of the Air Force for Acquisition, Technology and Logistics. His experience provides insight into the service's challenges, such as the need to accelerate capability development from the current average of 16 years to better compete with near-peer adversaries like China, which can deliver new capabilities in seven years or less. This contract builds on previous successful efforts by Istari. A project called "Flyer Øne" is working with the Air Force Research Lab and Lockheed Martin's Skunk Works to create the world's first digitally-certified aircraft, the X-56A X-plane. Another initiative, "Model Øne," received $15 million to link models and simulations across the Air Force to simulate complex, interconnected warfare scenarios. The goal is to create what Istari calls an "Internet of Models." This vendor-neutral, interoperable system allows engineers across government and industry to run automated tests and verify designs in real-time. This mirrors digital transformation successes in other industries like Formula 1, which uses extensive digital modeling and simulation to innovate rapidly. The Department of the Air Force has been pushing a broader "Digital Campaign" to move away from paper-based processes and embrace a more integrated digital enterprise. This involves creating common data standards, training, and updating IT infrastructure to support a digital-first approach to designing, building, and sustaining military systems. Ultimately, this digital transformation is seen as a critical national security imperative. By creating a more agile and interconnected digital ecosystem, the Air Force aims to rapidly prototype and field advanced capabilities to respond faster to changing threats.
