Abstract:
The US Army, Boeing, Sikorsky, Lockheed Martin and other partners conducted independent demonstrations on use of open architecture technical standards can be used to create an open system that meets the expectations identified in the Modular Open System Approach to achieve the benefits of the United States Department of Defense Better Buying Power initiative. This paper presents previously unreleased results and lessons learned from mission system experiments using the Future Airborne Capability Environment (FACETM) Technical Standard and the Army's Joint Common Architecture (JCA). The results show how to apply the FACE standard to address the expectations of an open system while identifying the potential to align with the open standard without achieving the expected benefits. This paper aims to inform acquisition authorities about the technical considerations of open architecture procurements, to provide guidance on how to apply emergent open architecture standards, and address actual or perceived gaps between meeting the requirements of an open standard and achieving the goals of procuring an open system.