The Government Accountability Office has called on the secretary of the Army to ensure the application of leading practices for iterative product development to rapidly develop and field self-propelled howitzer and other long-range fires capabilities against near-peer adversaries.
In a report published Thursday, GAO recommended the move after finding that the U.S. Army did not consistently apply practices for iterative product development to its long-range fires programs.
For instance, the military branch did not maintain a sound business case for its Extended Range Cannon Artillery effort by reassessing its technical feasibility, which resulted in its discontinuation.
Gain insights into the service branch’s modernization imperatives, force structure optimization, national security missions and more at the Potomac Officers Club’s 2025 Army Summit on June 18.
Use of Digital Twins & Other Digital Engineering Tools
The congressional watchdog also recommended that the Army ensure that the Precision Strike Missile program and Mid-Range Capability, or MRC, missile system assess the benefits, practicality and affordability of implementing digital twins and other digital engineering techniques as part of the adoption of an iterative product development approach.
With the MRC program, GAO found that the Army demonstrated several attributes of an iterative product development approach by establishing a business case with flexible requirements. However, the MRC effort does not intend to create a digital twin to help develop and improve the minimum viable product.
According to the report, implementing digital engineering and other iterative development approaches could help accelerate the development of future increments.
“Additionally, digital tools can help reduce time and cost by improving the ability to anticipate potential design flaws and optimizing manufacturing,” GAO wrote in the report.
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