Weapon System Virtualization and Continuous Capability Delivery for US Navy Combat Systems

Abstract

The US Navy envisions a Fleet that applies advances from the technology sector to improve the delivery of warfighting capability. Due to constraints imposed by legacy hardware design inherent and the inherent limitations of x86 servers, significant inefficiencies exist in the hardware and software delivery process. The US Navy leveraged advancements in virtualization technology to field combat system software in virtual machines, effectively removing computing hardware as a capability limiter. Adoption of hardware-agnostic virtual machines also significantly reduced the delivery timeline for improved warfighting capabilities at a lower cost. This paper will review the evolutionary enhancements in AEGIS Combat System computing architecture and describe why it is critical for the Surface Navy to adopt a new capability delivery model. This paper also outlines the key engineering and testing advantages of the US Navy AEGIS Virtual Twin effort, which recently demonstrated continuous capability delivery to the Fleet. Finally, this paper will explore the multifactor framework of the Balanced Scorecard as a tool to align the benefits of virtualization and advances in computing technology with a new model for future US Navy Combat Systems.