SUBCHAPTER I—MODULAR OPEN SYSTEM APPROACH IN DEVELOPMENT OF WEAPON SYSTEMS
§4401. Requirement for modular open system approach in major defense acquisition programs; definitions
(a)
(b)
(1) The term "modular open system approach" means, with respect to a major defense acquisition program, an integrated business and technical strategy that—
(A) employs a modular design that uses modular system interfaces between major systems, major system components and modular systems;
(B) is subjected to verification to ensure that relevant modular system interfaces—
(i) comply with, if available and suitable, widely supported and consensus-based standards; or
(ii) are delivered pursuant to the requirements established in subsection (a)(2)(B) of section 804 of the William M. (Mac) Thornberry National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2021, including the delivery of—
(I) software-defined interface syntax and properties, specifically governing how values are validly passed and received between major subsystems and components, in machine-readable format;
(II) a machine-readable definition of the relationship between the delivered interface and existing common standards or interfaces available in Department interface repositories; and
(III) documentation with functional descriptions of software-defined interfaces, conveying semantic meaning of interface elements, such as the function of a given interface field;
(C) uses a system architecture that allows severable major system components and modular systems at the appropriate level to be incrementally added, removed, or replaced throughout the life cycle of a major system platform to afford opportunities for enhanced competition and innovation while yielding—
(i) significant cost savings or avoidance;
(ii) schedule reduction;
(iii) opportunities for technical upgrades;
(iv) increased interoperability, including system of systems interoperability and mission integration; or
(v) other benefits during the sustainment phase of a major weapon system; and
(D) complies with the technical data rights set forth in
(2) The term "major system platform" means the highest level structure of a major weapon system that is not physically mounted or installed onto a higher level structure and on which a major system component can be physically mounted or installed.
(3) The term "major system component"—
(A) means a high level subsystem or assembly, including hardware, software, or an integrated assembly of both, that can be mounted or installed on a major system platform through modular system interfaces; and
(B) includes a subsystem or assembly that is likely to have additional capability requirements, is likely to change because of evolving technology or threat, is needed for interoperability, facilitates incremental deployment of capabilities, or is expected to be replaced by another major system component.
(4) The term "modular system interface" means a shared boundary between major systems, major system components, or modular systems, defined by various physical, logical, and functional characteristics, such as electrical, mechanical, fluidic, optical, radio frequency, data, networking, or software elements.
(5) The term "modular system" refers to a weapon system or weapon system component that—
(A) is able to execute without requiring coincident execution of other specific weapon systems or components;
(B) can communicate across component boundaries and through interfaces; and
(C) functions as a module that can be separated, recombined, and connected with other weapon systems or weapon system components in order to achieve various effects, missions, or capabilities.
(6) The term "program capability document" means, with respect to a major defense acquisition program, a document that specifies capability requirements for the program, such as a capability development document or a capability production document.
(7) The terms "program cost targets" and "fielding target" have the meanings provided in
(8) The term "major defense acquisition program" has the meaning provided in
(9) The term "major weapon system" has the meaning provided in
(Added
Editorial Notes
References in Text
Section 804 of the William M. (Mac) Thornberry National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2021, referred to in subsec. (b)(1)(B)(ii), is section 804 of
Amendments
2021—
Subsec. (a).
Subsec. (b)(1)(A).
Subsec. (b)(1)(B).
Subsec. (b)(1)(C).
Subsec. (b)(1)(D).
Subsec. (b)(3)(A).
Subsec. (b)(4).
Subsec. (b)(5), (6).
Subsec. (b)(7).
Subsec. (b)(8).
Subsec. (b)(9).
Statutory Notes and Related Subsidiaries
Effective Date of 2021 Amendment
Amendment by section 1851(b)(1), (2) of
Effective Date
Implementation of Modular Open Systems Approaches
"(a)
"(1)
"(A) facilitate the Department of Defense's access to and utilization of modular system interfaces;
"(B) fully realize the intent of [former]
"(C) advance the efforts of the Department to generate diverse and recomposable kill chains.
"(2)
"(A) the program officer for each weapon system characterizes, in the acquisition strategy required under
"(i) identification of—
"(I) the modular systems that comprise the weapon system;
"(II) the information that should be communicated between individual modular systems (such as tracking and targeting data or command and control instructions); and
"(III) the desired function of the communication between modular systems (such as fire control functions); and
"(ii) a default configuration specifying which modular systems should communicate with other modular systems, including modular systems of other weapon systems;
"(B) each relevant Department of Defense contract entered into after the date on which the regulations and guidance required under paragraph (1) are implemented includes requirements for the delivery of modular system interfaces for modular systems deemed relevant in the acquisition strategy or documentation referred to in subparagraph (A), including—
"(i) software-defined interface syntax and properties, specifically governing how values are validly passed and received between major subsystems and components, in machine-readable format;
"(ii) a machine-readable definition of the relationship between the delivered interface and existing common standards or interfaces available in the interface repositories established pursuant to subsection (c); and
"(iii) documentation with functional descriptions of software-defined interfaces, conveying semantic meaning of interface elements, such as the function of a given interface field;
"(C) the relevant program offices, including those responsible for maintaining and upgrading legacy systems—
"(i) that have not characterized the desired modularity of the systems nevertheless meet the requirements of paragraph (2)(A), if the program officers make an effort, to the extent practicable, to update the acquisition strategies required under
"(ii) that have awarded contracts that do not include the requirements specified in subparagraph (B) of paragraph (2) nevertheless acquire, to the extent practicable, the items specified in clauses (i) through (iii) of such subparagraph, either through contractual updates, separate negotiations or contracts, or program management mechanisms; and
"(D) the relevant program officers deliver modular system interfaces and the associated documentation to at least one of the repositories established pursuant to subsection (c).
"(3)
"(A)
"(B)
"(4)
"(A) A component that is able to execute without requiring coincident execution of other weapon systems or components and can communicate across component boundaries and through interfaces.
"(B) A component that can be separated from and recombined with other weapon systems or components to achieve various effects, missions, or capabilities.
"(C) A component that is covered by a unique contract line item.
"(5)
"(b)
"(1)
"(2)
"(A)
"(B)
"(c)
"(1)
"(A) direct the Secretaries concerned and the heads of other appropriate Department of Defense components to establish and maintain repositories for interfaces, syntax and properties, documentation, and communication implementations delivered pursuant to the requirements established under subsection (a)(2)(B);
"(B) establish and maintain a comprehensive index of interfaces, syntax and properties, documentation, and communication implementations delivered pursuant to the requirements established under subsection (a)(2)(B) and maintained in the repositories required under subparagraph (A); and
"(C) if practicable, establish and maintain an alternate reference repository of interfaces, syntax and properties, documentation, and communication implementations delivered pursuant to the requirements established under subsection (a)(2)(B).
"(2)
"(A)
"(B)
"(d)
"(1)
"(A)
"(B)
"(i) at least three demonstrations of the use of a covered technology to create, under constrained schedules and budgets, novel kill chains involving previously incompatible weapon systems, sensors, and command, control, and communication systems from multiple military services in cooperation with United States Indo-Pacific Command or United States European Command;
"(ii) an evaluation as to whether the communications enabled via a covered technology are sufficient for military missions and whether such technology results in any substantial performance loss in communication between systems, major subsystems, and major components;
"(iii) an evaluation as to whether a covered technology obviates the need to develop, impose, and maintain strict adherence to common communication and interface standards for weapon systems;
"(iv) the appropriate roles and responsibilities of the Chief Information Officer of the Department of Defense, the Under Secretary of Defense for Acquisition and Sustainment, the heads of the combatant commands, the Secretaries concerned, the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, and the defense industrial base in using and maintaining a covered technology to generate diverse and recomposable kill chains as part of the Joint All-Domain Command and Control architecture;
"(v) for at least one of the demonstrations conducted under clause (i), demonstration of the use of technology developed under the High-Assurance Cyber Military Systems program of the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency to secure legacy weapon systems and command and control capabilities while facilitating interoperability;
"(vi) an evaluation of how the technology referred to in clause (v) and covered technology should be used to improve cybersecurity and interoperability across critical weapon systems and command and control capabilities across the joint forces; and
"(vii) coordination with the program manager for the Time Sensitive Targeting Defeat program under the Under Secretary of Defense for Research and Engineering and the Under Secretary of Defense for Intelligence and Security.
"(2)
"(A)
"(B)
"(i) an evaluation as to how the technologies referred to in such subparagraph could be used in conjunction with or instead of existing cybersecurity standards, frameworks, and technologies designed to enable communication between, and coordination of, cybersecurity tools;
"(ii) as appropriate, demonstrations by the Chief Information Office of the use of such technologies in enabling communication between, and coordination of, previously incompatible cybersecurity tools; and
"(iii) as appropriate, demonstrations of the use of such technologies in enabling communication between previously incompatible business systems.
"(3)
"(4)
"(e)
"(f)
"(1) The term 'covered technology' means the domain-specific programming language for interface field transformations and its associated compilation toolchain (commonly known as the 'System of Systems Technology Integration ToolChain for Heterogeneous Electronic Systems') developed under the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency System of Systems Integration Technology and Experimentation program, or any other technology that is functionally equivalent.
"(2) The term 'desired modularity' means the desired degree to which weapon systems, components within a weapon system, and components across weapon systems can function as modules that can communicate across component boundaries and through interfaces and can be separated and recombined to achieve various effects, missions, or capabilities, as determined by the program officer for such weapon system.
"(3) The term 'machine-readable format' means a format that can be easily processed by a computer without human intervention.
"(4) The terms 'major system', 'major system component', 'modular open system approach', 'modular system', 'modular system interface', and 'weapon system' have the meanings given such terms, respectively, in
§4402. Requirement to address modular open system approach in program capabilities development and acquisition weapon system design
(a)
(1) the extent to which requirements for system performance are likely to evolve during the life cycle of the system because of evolving technology, threat, or interoperability needs; and
(2) for requirements that are expected to evolve, the minimum acceptable capability that is necessary for initial operating capability of the major defense acquisition program.
(b)
(c)
(1) clearly describe the modular open system approach to be used for the program;
(2) differentiate between the major system platform and major system components being developed under the program, as well as major system components developed outside the program that will be integrated into the major defense acquisition program;
(3) clearly describe the evolution of major system components that are anticipated to be added, removed, or replaced in subsequent increments;
(4) identify additional major system components that may be added later in the life cycle of the major system platform;
(5) clearly describe how intellectual property and related issues, such as technical data deliverables, that are necessary to support a modular open system approach, will be addressed; and
(6) clearly describe the approach to systems integration and systems-level configuration management to ensure mission and information assurance.
(d)
(e)
(1) in the case of a program that uses a modular open system approach, that—
(A) the program incorporates clearly defined major system interfaces between the major system platform and major system components, between major system components, and between major system platforms;
(B) such major system interfaces are consistent with the widely supported and consensus-based standards that exist at the time of the milestone decision, unless such standards are unavailable or unsuitable for particular major system interfaces; and
(C) the Government has arranged to obtain appropriate and necessary intellectual property rights with respect to such major system interfaces upon completion of the development of the major system platform; or
(2) in the case of a program that does not use a modular open system approach, that the use of a modular open system approach is not practicable.
(f)
(Added
Editorial Notes
Amendments
2021—
Subsec. (c).
Subsec. (e).
2019—Subsec. (f).
2017—Subsec. (e).
Statutory Notes and Related Subsidiaries
Effective Date of 2021 Amendment
Amendment by
Effective Date
Section effective Jan. 1, 2017, see section 805(a)(4) of
§4403. Requirements relating to availability of major system interfaces and support for modular open system approach
The Secretary of each military department shall—
(1) coordinate with the other military departments, the defense agencies, defense and other private sector entities, national standards-setting organizations, and, when appropriate, with elements of the intelligence community with respect to the specification, identification, development, and maintenance of major system interfaces and standards for use in major system platforms, where practicable;
(2) ensure that major system interfaces incorporate commercial standards and other widely supported consensus-based standards that are validated, published, and maintained by recognized standards organizations to the maximum extent practicable;
(3) ensure that sufficient systems engineering and development expertise and resources are available to support the use of a modular open system approach in requirements development and acquisition program planning;
(4) ensure that necessary planning, programming, and budgeting resources are provided to specify, identify, develop, and sustain the modular open system approach, associated major system interfaces, systems integration, and any additional program activities necessary to sustain innovation and interoperability;
(5) ensure that adequate training in the use of a modular open system approach is provided to members of the requirements and acquisition workforce; and
(6) issue guidance to implement the requirements of this section.
(Added
Editorial Notes
Prior Provisions
Prior sections 4411 to 4414 were renumbered
A prior section 4415, added
Prior sections 4416 and 4417 were renumbered
Amendments
2021—
2019—Par. (6).
Statutory Notes and Related Subsidiaries
Effective Date of 2021 Amendment
Amendment by
Effective Date
Section effective Jan. 1, 2017, see section 805(a)(4) of