MODAF White Paper on Acquisition View 1 (AcV-1) System of Systems Acquisition Clusters

The purpose of this paper is to describe the initial content and layout of the AcV-1 view in a way which would allow peer review from stakeholders. With the exception of this section, the rest of the paper follows the layout of the DODAF volume II document. The intention is that this format will be retained and used in the final MODAF documentation, currently scheduled to be published June 2005.

The MOD Architectural Framework (MODAF) is being developed with the intention of providing a rigorous way to specify capabilities / systems, provides a common language to describe system designs and is a key enabler to NEC1. MODAF will support the entire system lifecycle, to varying degrees, including: concepts and doctrine, capability management, acquisition, operations and sustainment. MODAF not only supports the documentation of project / system architectures but also the generation of broader capability portfolio / programme / system of systems architectures.

The most mature and widely adopted architectural framework in the defence sector globally has been the US DoD Architectural Framework (DoDAF). This framework has its origins in the C4ISR community from the mid 1990s and is seen as a fundamental part of the DoD’s drive towards Network Centric Warfare. The MODAF is based on the DoDAF specification for Operational, Systems and Technical Views, and will use most of these aspects of DoDAF largely without alteration. In addition to tailoring a few DoDAF views to align with MODspecific processes and structures, MODAF adds two new sets of views – the Strategic and Acquisition Views – which permit more coherent analysis and management of the MOD capability portfolio and acquisition programmes (ie clusters of system IPTs). In addition, some views will be modified, based on lessons learned by users of DoDAF.