Understanding the Current State of US Defense Systems of Systems and the Implications for Systems Engineering

The US Department of Defense has begun to recognize the need to manage and engineer ensembles of systems to address use capability needs. As DoD systems of systems are being recognized with explicit management, systems engineering and funding support, systems engineers face challenges in applying systems engineering processes to support SoS, particularly in the typical situation when the systems retain their independence. This paper describes the situation in SoS in the context of existing SoS frameworks and discusses the current DoD approach to SoS and challenges the SoS environment poses for the systems engineer at both the SoS and system levels. Finally, the paper will suggest some areas for further investigation to address key issues as systems engineering takes up the challenge of these changes in the interdependent networked environment of the future battle space.