How Siemens Xcelerator helps breaking rising development costs in Aerospace & Defense through strategic digitalization
Did you ever hear about Augustine’s law? Norm Augustine is a former US Under Secretary of the Army and retired CEO of Lockheed Martin who defined and published a series of “laws” in 1984.
His most cited “Law XVI” noted that every generation of aircraft is more expensive than the last due to always increasing complexity. Although Augustine’s “laws” are more tongue-in-cheek observations than a set of defined rules, for decades this “law” was fundamentally correct.
Northrop Grumman’s latest B-21 bomber however seems to defy this law. Northrop Grumman who has been in partnership with Siemens for over a decade stated that the B-21 project was ahead of schedule, as well as under budget. Has Augustine’s law XVI finally been defied?
Northrop Grumman attributes their success to the digital tools they use, tools that are part of the Siemens Xcelerator portfolio.
Siemens Xcelerator is a portfolio of solutions which are tailored to A&D for specialized, systems-driven product development. Siemens Xcelerator helps overcome the challenges of complexity in the design process and on the production side through a system-oriented process using high-fidelity digital twins connected by digital threads, as well as simulation and test capabilities. Read more about digital twins and digital threads and why they are so vital to a successful digitalization strategy in our blog post about the keys to digitalization in A&D.
Head over to our partner Aviation week and learn from John O’ Connor, Director of A&D Strategy with Siemens Digital Industries Software, how Siemens’ Xcelerator portfolio can help you to reduce cycle times and risks in A&D. His whitepaper explains how Siemens’ Xcelerator brings the ever increasing complexity under control with digital threads running all the way run all the way from product design right into machines on the production line.
