Partnering for Requirements -- Questions for Industry - Final.docx

DRAFT Industry Questions

· From your experience, what aspects of the Air Force’s current requirements process hinders your ability to effectively propose innovative solutions and deliver capabilities that meet evolving Air Force needs? Please be specific and identify what is most problematic.

· How could the Air Force improve communication throughout the requirements process to better inform traditional and non-traditional industry partners about emerging needs and priorities? What data, method(s), and frequency would be most impactful?

· How might the Air Force encourage industry to invest in research and development of technologies that are aligned with the Air Force’s Future Force Design priorities, even if there is no immediate guarantee of contract?

· In what specific areas of expertise or technological capabilities do you believe industry can make the most significant contribution to the Air Force’s Future Force Design? Please provide examples of technologies or approaches that you believe could be transformative.

· How can we encourage a more integrated industry ecosystem to solve our joint warfighting challenges and ensure systems work together seamlessly?

· How can the Air Force better balance the need for rigorous testing and evaluation with the imperative to rapidly field new capabilities, particularly given rapidly evolving threats and technologies? What alternative approaches to testing and evaluation could be considered?

· The Air Force aims to iteratively develop and field capability, in some cases replacing systems entirely as technology evolves, in order to deliver more capability (new or additive, layered, or mass effect) to the Warfighter faster. What strategies can we employ, what key challenges and risks do you see, and how can we mitigate them? What changes would we need to make in operational concepts, training, maintenance, and logistics?

· Based on your work with the armed services what are the most pressing Joint Operational problems that you see hindering overall effectiveness and interoperability? Please provide examples of how these problems manifest in real world scenarios.

· How might the Air Force and industry partners address these joint operations problems and enable more effective joint operations?

· How are you using AI, or planning to, to accelerate your development lifecycle, from concept to engineering requirements, costing, logistics, and sustainment planning? What AI and automation tools, and adapted processes, are you currently using (internally, with partners, or with customers) that could be adapted or implemented to improve Air Force data sharing, collaboration, and workflow internally or with industry?