Digital Transformation

Digital Transformation can present to industry, faster, higher quality, mission-aligned system designs, industrialization, delivery, transparency and efficiency throughout the supply chain. In addition new practices and methods that emerge in a digital ecosystem lead to better collaboration between industry, suppliers, government and the operator community.

• Provide AIA members a forum for responding to USG Digital Transformation Policy
• Provide strategic direction for the association and its membership on DT policies and practices.
• Project a vision for A&D to achieve long-term DT goals as an ecosystem.
• Reduce inefficiencies and value gaps throughout the ecosystem (see McKinsey Report)
  Execute DT Priorities and Roadmaps for the A&D Industry

The A&D ecosystem agendas include supporting agendas from:

1. U.S. Digital Policy & Strategy from the Department of Defense (DoD), Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) and other regulatory bodies
2. AIA top priorities for sustainability, aviation safety, supply chain, workforce, and Industrial Base resiliency
3. Emerging Digital Technologies, including Industry 4.0, Distributed Ledger Technology, artificial intelligence, Digital Twin and Digital Thread and cloud services
4. Application of these technologies across the lifecycle for advancing Digital Engineering, Model Based Design, Integrated Logistics and PLM Systems

AIA Position StatementLook Toward the Future

AIA will execute the Digital Transformation Agenda by:

• Engaging with government peers to align high-level strategies.
• Enabling A&D to accelerate its overall digital maturity through focused efforts to leverage digital technology.
• Establishing consensus positions amongst industry’s digital leadership, driving digital innovation.
• Focus more on the “business” and “culture” aspects of digital
• Overcoming systemic challenges hindering digital transformation and leverage non-competitive opportunities.
• Expanding the digital talent pool for the Aerospace and Defense Industry, and helping industry keep its existing resources current.
• Providing direction for harmonizing Data exchanges and elevating interoperability.
• Facilitate the advancement of DT for the A&D Industry by utilizing the resources of AIA.
• Identifying opportunities for AIA policy sectors to integrate Digital Transformation into their work plans.

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The AIA Digital Transformation Council (DTC) serves as the principal advocate of coordinated aerospace industry positions relevant to Digital Transformation practices to the Office of the Secretary of Defense, Military Service Components, Defense Agencies, U.S. Government Civil Agencies and Administrations. The objective of the DTC is to obtain, coordinate and present, as a single authoritative source, AIA member companies’ views on digital transformation practices and issues affecting the aerospace and defense industry. The DTC will be concerned with broad policy matters in an effort to define and guide policy decisions favorable to our industry and our nation.

The DTC convenes several internal working groups to develop guidelines and taxonomies to enable a broader representation of industry to commence their DT journeys. These guidelines provide AIA members a baseline knowledge for determining the business value that DT brings to the A&D ecosystem and provide strategies and roadmaps. This includes harmonized terms and definitions, and operational change management practices. The council also engages with its peers from the U.S. government to understand their strategies and policies for digital transformation and engage in dialogue to converge and harmonize strategies.

AIA’s Role

AIA serves as both a convener and thought leader for aerospace and defense DT activity. Industry executives responsible for the digital transformation of industry; C-level, senior executives, technologists and innovators serve on the AIA Digital Transformation Council. This represents the U.S. industry’s highest ranking leadership and DT advisory authority. The Council facilitates the advancement of DT for the A&D industry by utilizing the resources of AIA and performs its mission through collaboration, information sharing, leveraging resources and opportunities within the AIA divisional structure to consider.