BEALE AIR FORCE BASE, Calif.—

Where would the modern warfighter be without interchangeable parts?

Take the rifle. The ability to remove the bolt carrier from one rifle and replace it with a bolt carrier from another, even if it was manufactured years later at another factory, is a critical capability.

The same goes for engine parts in a tank, or hydraulic systems on an airplane.

Today, the modern battlefield increasingly calls upon the use of complex electronic warfare equipment, advanced communication platforms and sensor systems. With PlugFest, hosted at Beale Air Force Base and orchestrated by the Air Combat Command Federal Laboratory, the Naval Air Systems Command’s Air Combat Electronics Program Office (PMA-209), and the Georgia Tech Research Institute, who hosted a demonstration event earlier this year in preparation for this PlugFest event, we take an important step in the pursuit of this same battlefield advantage of interchangeable components for many of these electronics systems.

At this event, more than two dozen vendors and several government partners brought together various modules and chassis to see firsthand how they worked or did not work with each other, while government representatives could observe these processes to develop key takeaways.

Core to this mission is the push for open standards like the Sensor Open Systems Architecture (SOSA) and the C5ISR/EW Modular Open Suite of Standards (CMOSS). An open standard is a set of design parameters which allow for interchangeability to a degree that ensures the hardware doesn’t simply fit together, but the components and their software actually talk to each other. Continuing with the rifle analogy, the bolt carrier has to not only fit in any rifle but it also has fire when the trigger is pulled.

With open systems, operators and vendors move away from proprietary systems and transition toward being plug and play with components and chassis.

Dr. John D. Matyias, Scientific Advisor to the Commander, Air Combat Command (ACC), said that the work toward open systems created optionality and greater mission flexibility and that the testing at PlugFest moved us toward a future where, “we can be more plug and play and not plug and pray.”

To that end, the goal for PlugFest was as much about seeing which systems broke down when plugged into one another as it was to see which ones worked, and the event at Beale presented a rare opportunity to witness such varied components interacting with each other. “It’s not PowerPoint engineering, you are here to show it,” said Dr. Iilya Lipkin, ACC Federal Laboratory.

While modules from different vendors may physically fit within chassis from another, it does not guarantee that each of those modules will fully integrate with the chassis controllers or other modules connected to the system. Nonetheless, knowing where these components face issues can help in the development of these standards moving forward. “This data is going to be extremely useful to further the standards,” said Lipkin.

PlugFest also allowed representatives from the Military Services to interact directly with vendors. “Your job is to ask the industry, and the industry’s job is to try it,” said Lipkin. Thus, PlugFest presented the opportunity to move toward a more a cooperative development and acquisition process between vendors and the Military Services. “How many of you here have heard that form follows function?” Matyias asked. “What we are trying is to drive mission over function.”

With PlugFest and the push toward integrating open systems standards, we move toward more persistent and cost-effective solutions for government acquisitions and fielding of these electronic systems.

Lt. Col. Nathan Maertens, Chief of Staff, 9th Reconnaissance Wing said, “I want us to look to the future. What are those future needs? When I walk around it inspires me to find those solutions.”

“It makes me think about our mission set,” said Maertens. “Our mission is to provide persistent and integrated reconnaissance and combat power to support our nation.”