On March 23, 2021, The Open Group FACE™ and SOSA™ Consortia presented its virtual second Technical Interchange Meeting (TIM), hosted by the NAVAIR PMA-209 Avionics Architecture Team (AAT). Nearly 800 individuals registered for the meeting and over 430 attended the live event! This Tri-Services TIM highlighted the importance of open architecture across the whole of spectrum operations, to support early risk reduction for the warfighter and how public/private partnerships can enhance market adoption of open architectures.
The welcome and introductions were offered by Captain Margaret Wilson, Program Manager of PMA-209 Air Combat Electronics, Naval Air Systems Command. The group was honored to be joined by Tri-Service keynote speakers Vice Admiral G. Dean Peters, Commander, Naval Air Systems Command (NAVAIR); Mr. Gary Kurtz, Program Executive Officer for the Navy Aviation Common Systems & Commercial Services; Mr. Randall Walden, Director and PEO for the Air Force Rapid Capabilities Office; and Brigadier General Robert Collins, U.S. Army Program Executive Officer for Command, Control, Communications – Tactical. Each presenter pointed out the critical significance of open architecture and making Modular Open Systems Approach (MOSA) a sustained government requirement to support “readiness and speed” in operational environments. Emphasis was also placed on the impact of the Tri-Services memo of January 2019, which articulates MOSA as a “warfighting imperative.” Capability overmatch and tactical training, “train like you fight,” to protect warfighting Tactics, Techniques and Procedures (TTPs), were all featured in the discussion. The takeaway from all speakers was that open architecture is a combat multiplier for the warfighter.
Attendees were also fortunate enough to participate in an Open Standards panel discussion called “What’s Next” that spotlighted FACE™, SOSA™, CMOSS, and HOST. Panelists included Joe Carter, PEO Aviation; Dr. Ilya Lipkin, AFLCMC; Jason Dirner, DEVCOM C5ISR; and Tyler Robinson, NAVAIR AAT plus VITA Executive Director Jerry Gipper as Moderator. Each exchanged supporting views on the merit of infrastructure, acquisition and rapid adoption while pointing out opportunities for improvements in the open standards ecosystem. Panelists identified in-band versus out-of-band standard differentials and the value proposition of the SOSA™ Consortium.
Other sessions included an update on the FACE™ new Business Guide (v.3.0) as it relates to the Future Airborne Capability Environment. The TIM concluded with a capstone from the SOSA Business Working Group that reviewed the benefits of adopting the forthcoming SOSA™ Technical Standard. The emphasis on open architecture management and a model-based engineering approach was discussed - how next steps can be spring-boarded for rapid adoption of open architecture and standardization in support of the MOSA imperative to benefit the warfighter.
Thank you to all the Tri-Services speakers, panelists and session presenters and Sally Bixby for spearheading this event. We look forward to the next TIM to advance the dialogue in support of the open architecture mission, especially with the upcoming release of the SOSA Standard! A special thanks to The Open Group and NAVAIR PMA-209 team for putting this Tri-Services TIM agenda together. Should you want more information on SOSA, please reach out through: https://www.opengroup.org/sosa.
If you missed the TIM presentations or you would like to view them again, they are available at www.tsoa-id.net,www.expotim2021.com and www.host-oa.com. In addition to the presentations, working SOSA demo videos are also available at these links, in addition to exciting open architecture/open standards new product announcements.
Robin Jones
Booz/Allen/Hamilton