{"id":44264,"date":"2021-09-14T09:00:00","date_gmt":"2021-09-14T09:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/uncategorized\/2021\/09\/14\/former-us-air-force-acquisition-czar-could-help-the-uk-build-its-future-fighter\/"},"modified":"2026-08-07T23:37:02","modified_gmt":"2026-08-07T23:37:02","slug":"former-us-air-force-acquisition-czar-could-help-the-uk-build-its-future-fighter","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/digital-show-dailies\/dsei\/2021\/09\/14\/former-us-air-force-acquisition-czar-could-help-the-uk-build-its-future-fighter\/","title":{"rendered":"Former US Air Force acquisition czar could help the UK build its future fighter"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

WASHINGTON \u2014 During his time as the U.S. Air Force\u2019s acquisition executive, Will Roper had no shortage of disruptive and boundary-pushing <\/b>projects, whether it was conceptualizing a \u201cDigital Century Series\u201d<\/a> of rapidly produced fighters or developing an autonomous drone wingman known as \u201cSkyborg.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Now in civilian life, Roper will be sharing his big ideas on digital engineering, cloud computing, agile software and artificial intelligence with one of the U.S Air Force\u2019s closest partners: the British Royal Air Force<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Roper, who left U.S. government service in January, became an adviser to the RAF this summer, he told Defense News in an exclusive interview.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201c[Air Chief Marshal Mike Wigston] asked to meet with me in Washington and said: \u2018We want to digitally transform the whole service, and we need help to do it,\u2019 \u201d Roper said. \u201cThey want to chase [a] digital engineering approach for future fighters; they want to do the same cloud approach that we did with doing containerized development [for software].\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As an honorary member of the Royal Auxiliary Air Force\u2019s No. 601 Squadron \u2014 a nonflying unit reestablished in 2019 and comprised of thought leaders from commercial industry \u2014 Roper will provide input on how the RAF can best incorporate technologies like digital engineering and agile software development that he believes could flip the paradigm of aircraft manufacturing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

However, it will be up to RAF leaders to determine how much of Roper\u2019s advice to incorporate into existing programs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201c[Roper] understands the underpinning culture that\u2019s required in an organization, and our rapid capabilities office in the Royal Air Force is very fortunate to be able to benefit from that support,\u201d Wigston said in an interview, adding that there are \u201ca number of areas around digital engineering and digital modeling\u201d on which Roper will work.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The starting line<\/h1>\n\n\n\n

Roper has not been given direction to provide advice on any specific weapons development program, Wigston said. But the two agreed that the Future Combat Air System program is a natural place from which to levy Roper\u2019s expertise on digital engineering.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Through the FCAS program, the Royal Air Force hopes to develop a family of systems that includes the sixth-generation Tempest <\/a>fighter, the uncrewed Mosquito <\/a>fighter that will act as a \u201cloyal wingman\u201d to Tempest, and swarming drones.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The program bears similarities to the U.S. Air Force\u2019s Next Generation Air Dominance system \u2014 the service\u2019s effort to build a sixth-gen family of combat aircraft.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Key to both programs is digital engineering<\/a>, the practice of developing a highly accurate \u201cdigital twin\u201d of a system whose production, maintenance and upgrades can be virtually modeled in extreme detail.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

However, there are signs that the NGAD program may be further along in development. Last year, Roper disclosed that at least one full-scale NGAD demonstrator had flown<\/a>, a feat he attributed to the use of digital engineering processes. U.S. Air Force leaders have hinted that the program is progressing rapidly and could be available around 2030.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Meanwhile, the RAF in July awarded a $347 million contract<\/a> for the \u201cconcept and assessment phase\u201d for Tempest . The aircraft is set to go into service in the mid-2030s, but it\u2019s unclear when its first flight will take place.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cEveryone is afraid they\u2019re behind on digital engineering and this fourth industrial revolution that everyone believes is coming,\u201d Roper said. \u201cYou\u2019re not behind, you\u2019re with everyone else at the starting line. But the starting pistol has fired and you\u2019ve got to run because this is going to be as the hype portends.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

If tasked to evaluate how FCAS could better use digital engineering and modeling processes, Roper said he would begin by looking at the underlying infrastructure to virtually build, test and redesign a product at high levels of speed and accuracy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThat\u2019s the beginning point \u2014 do we have the right [digital engineering] tools in place, the cloud in place so you can build digital entities?\u201d he said. \u201cThe next thing to help on is training because if no one can use the tools, they are irrelevant.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

One thing that excites Roper about working with the Royal Air Force is its smaller size, which could make for a more agile organization capable of rolling out changes more quickly.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThough they\u2019re not the biggest air force, their size might allow them to act more like a startup with transformation, be able to do things faster [with] tighter turns on experimentation,\u201d Roper said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Size also presents a financial advantage for the RAF as it seeks to incorporate digital engineering, when compared to larger nations like the United States and China that can benefit from mass production.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cDigital transformation, although it provides amazing magic if done correctly, does not provide the same economies of scale as traditional acquisition for the last industrial revolution,\u201d Roper said. \u201cThat is great news for countries that are smaller in terms of their size and industrial base because they can play on a more level playing field.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

One of Roper\u2019s first tasks will be to provide input to the RAF on how to build a cloud environment and coding infrastructure for agile software development \u2014 another technology he championed due to its ability to allow developers to quickly code, test and release new software packages created with user involvement.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It took about two years for the U.S. Air Force to create those tools, but it\u2019s possible the RAF could do it more quickly by mimicking American work on software development cells like Kessel Run or the software development environments of Cloud One and Platform One, Roper said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cYou can simply copy that. You can even potentially partner with the Air Force on those infrastructure platforms,\u201d he said. \u201cThere are many opportunities to get out of the gate faster than we did in the U.S. Air Force and potentially collaborate to go even faster to the goal line. Because the tools are not what you ultimately want to focus on \u2014 you want to get to the coding for the mission.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Will Roper, who served as the U.S. Air Force’s top acquisition official during the Trump administration, will be advising the U.K. Royal Air Force on innovative technologies such as agile software development and digital 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