EDWARDS AIR FORCE BASE, Calif. -- Just off the Gulf Coast, something ambitious was unfolding. A few short miles from Eglin Air Force Base, Florida, the Air Force Test Center gathered digital trailblazers from across the Department of Defense, industry and its own test wings to do more than just talk about transformation, but to build it.
From April 23 to 25, the fourth annual Digital Materiel Management Test and Evaluation Summit served as a pulse check on the Air Force’s digital modernization journey and a launchpad for the future.
Timed just months after AFTC released its Commander’s Intent and an updated DMM Strategic Execution Plan, this year’s summit challenged attendees to align visions, share lessons learned, and connect the dots across digital engineering, data integration, and modeling and simulation.
“We are pressing ahead and just must be flexible,” said Christopher Hereford, AFTC digital engineering lead. “This summit is hugely important to show how DMM aligns and can meet the commanders’ intent. It gave us a chance to see what is going on around the DoD and how we can interact.”
The agenda spanned everything from mission engineering and digital test environments to flight test software and real-time data streaming. Leaders from AFTC, the 96th Test Wing, 412th TW, and AEDC broke down their current efforts, while representatives from the Army, Navy, Air Force Research Laboratory and key defense contractors brought new ideas to the table.
After Hereford kicked things off, Arthur Huber, AFTC Executive Director, followed with a keynote address. His remarks emphasized the pacing threat in the INDOPACOM theater and the need for DMM to deliver advantage should there be a conflict. “The rise of the threat from China since the turn of the century has been breathtaking” said Huber. “In response, it is our Commander’s intent that AFTC be an Integrating Center where we adopt applications and data environments across the enterprise. DMM enables us to speed up capability development and overcome the challenges of complexity and scale.”
Sessions flowed between technical deep-dives and strategic discussions, but one theme held steady: Speed and trust are non-negotiable. As warfighting requirements evolve, so must the tools and processes that deliver them.
“DMM is changing the way we develop systems,” said Carol Hernandez, AFTC engineering and technical management director. “By using data and virtual testing, DMM ensures everyone is working from the same playbook. This allows engineers to work together in real-time, becoming partners in the design process. DMM helps us target our testing efforts, leading to faster approvals and a product everyone can trust. In the end, DMM means better systems delivered more efficiently.”
Led by Hereford, Amanda Tierney, AFTC Engineering senior acquisition integration engineer, and John Volk, AFTC chief data officer, the summit underscored AFTC’s role as a digital integrator.