Air Force Awards $8.6M Digital Engineering Contract

The "Industry Øne" initiative directly tackles a long-standing problem in defense programs: the reliance on thousands of suppliers using incompatible digital tools behind separate firewalls. This fragmentation has historically forced collaborators to manually copy and share data, a slow and risky process that hinders rapid innovation. Istari Digital, the company behind this initiative, is led by Dr. Will Roper, who previously served as the Assistant Secretary of the Air Force for Acquisition, Technology and Logistics. In his former role, Roper championed the use of digital engineering and AI to accelerate the military's technology development. His leadership at Istari represents a continuation of this mission from the private sector. This contract builds on previous successful projects. One such initiative, "Flyer Øne," involved a partnership with Lockheed Martin's Skunk Works to create a digitally certified aircraft, the X-56A. Another, "Model Øne," focused on breaking down barriers to collaboration across different security domains. The core of Istari's technology is a platform that allows for secure, real-time collaboration without centralizing or copying data. This creates what Roper calls an "Internet of Models," where different organizations can maintain control of their own data while still allowing their engineering models to interact in a controlled and auditable way. This initiative is a key part of the Air Force's broader push for Digital Materiel Management. The goal is to overhaul legacy systems and move toward data-driven operations, ultimately shortening the lengthy timelines for developing and deploying new weapon systems. The use of "digital twins" is central to this strategy. By creating virtual replicas of physical systems, engineers can test, analyze, and optimize designs in a simulated environment before any physical manufacturing begins, which can significantly reduce costs and development time.