U.S. Sim Market To Draw More Foreign Firms: DoD

19 Jul 2011 By MARCUS WEISGERBER DefenseNews

The U.S. Defense Department sees more international companies becoming players in the modeling and simulation (M&S) field in the coming years, according to a Pentagon report.

DoD expects an increase in foreign corporations purchasing domestic M&S companies, states the March report by the Office of the Assistant Secretary of Defense for Research and Engineering. The report was mandated by the 2010 Defense Authorization Act.

Moreover, the Pentagon sees these multinational companies providing more competition in the "DoD M&S marketplace," the report states.

"Hence, the already-global M&S marketplace will continue becoming less U.S.-centric as hardware, software and intellectual capital will be increasingly shared," the report states. "This competitive global flow of products and technology is a vital two-way street that enables the development of new M&S capabilities, but we must be vigilant in our monitoring, guiding, selective funding, coordinating and managing to ensure continued leadership."

Years of leadership in M&S research and development (R&D) has allowed the United States to set global standards. The U.S. M&S industry has driven research in computer hardware, software, visualization and display systems, communications, and in operations.

The simulation workforce is "unmatched," and the best scientists and technologists in the field have tended to remain in the United States, the report states. But that could be changing.

"Other countries have developed effective processes that insert U.S.-developed technology into their own products, which are sold globally," the report states. "Other countries are also improving their academic and industrial R&D capabilities while reversing the historic 'brain drain' by growing a new generation of researchers in M&S-enabling fields and welcoming home more graduates of U.S. institutions."

Despite this shift toward more international participation, the U.S. M&S industrial base is "robust and fully able to meet the current defense requirements," according to the report.

DoD is positioning M&S capabilities for next-generation technology to combat new threats and meet new challenges, including investments in enhanced human behavior modeling, performance measurement and decision-making capabilities, the report states.

In addition, the Pentagon is leveraging the gaming, computer and Internet domains in developing new capabilities that resolve M&S issues in areas such as data integration and hybrid and cyber warfare.

"Because of efforts like these, the M&S industrial base will be fully able to grow and meet future defense requirements as these requirements broaden," the report states. "This growth, including deepening and widening the M&S workforce, will be based on industry and academic developments in enabling disciplines, plus DoD initiatives to monitor, guide, selectively fund, coordinate and manage M&S-related technology."