Systematic Mapping of Systems Thinking Skills, MBSE Practices, and MOSA Tenets

An analysis of available government reporting indicates that the Department of Defense (DoD) has employed a Modular Open Systems Approach (MOSA) as a business and technical strategy for over 20 years. Recent legislation directed the incorporation of MOSA into all Major Defense Acquisition Programs (MDAPs). The legal requirement for MOSA comes at a time when the DoD seeks innovative technologies to maintain its warfighting advantage while encouraging competition and flexibility among defense and intelligence community partners. Successful adoption of an open and modular approach facilitates the rapid deployment, integration, and upgradeability of defense capabilities by relying on widely accepted and supported open standards to help minimize the chances of technology obsolescence in the field, increase innovation and competition, and maximize resource savings. To realize the tenets of MOSA in defense acquisition programs, both from a strategic and technical perspective, it is imperative that the DoD continue to evolve and leverage its use of next-generation Systems Engineering (SE) practices and tools. This paper introduces relevant and emerging SE topics, focusing on systems thinking methodologies and ModelBased Systems Engineering (MBSE) standards as critical enablers for implementing a MOSA-compliant program. Using a systemic approach, this paper identifies an interrelationship between systems thinking, MBSE, and MOSA, outlines the benefits of open standards, and reflects on how the government can capitalize on the advantages of openness while continuing to keep abreast of significant SE advances.