Continue the Conversation: Advancing Warfighting Systems

"Why is it important for industry leaders to have an honest conversation about where digital engineering efforts haven't worked yet?" Last week, MANTECH's VP of Intelligent Engineering, Doug Orellana, sat down with defense industry leaders at the Digital Engineering for Defense Summit hosted by the Defense Strategies Institute to discuss a critical imperative: accelerating the design and development of our nation's warfighting systems. But to truly advance all-domain digital engineering, we can't just highlight the wins. We have to continue the conversation around the friction points, challenges, and setbacks. According to Doug, real transformation doesn't happen overnight by trying to re-engineer everything at once. It happens through a pragmatic approach—pinpointing high-risk areas, analyzing why past initiatives fell short (whether due to a lack of specialized training or mismatched resources), and using virtual environments to aggressively reduce that risk before bending metal. To remain agile and adaptive for the modern warfighter, industry leaders must maintain an open, honest dialogue about both successes and failures. That is how we refine our digital twins, scale our capabilities, and ultimately secure the mission. How is your organization navigating the friction points of digital engineering implementation? Let’s keep the conversation going in the comments below. 👇 #DigitalEngineering #DefenseInnovation #IntelligentEngineering #TechLeadership #MANTECH #AlwaysAdvancing