Simulation Based Acquisition: Is It Taking Root in the Defense Acquisition Community?

Initially, this research was focused on the substance of simulation-based acquisition, or SBA, as it is called. However, it soon became clear there is much already written and available in government publications, trade journals, and on the web about the emphasis on using MS to support the various stages of a new weapon system program. Rather than rehash existing information, this paper focuses on an evaluation and assessment of how well the message is being heard by professionals in government and industry. This paper describes an evaluation of the state of the art in using modeling and simulation in support of weapons systems acquisition. The research focused on two assessment areas: 1) the terminology in vogue in the modeling and simulation community to communicate with acquirers to convince them of the value of MS; 2) the maturity of the acquisition and user community with respect to knowledge of and investment in MS during the acquisition cycle.