ON THE DOUBLE
model, what skills are needed, etc. “We’re trying to figure out which questions we should ask, which answers do we need— it is truly a pathfinder,” she said.
Te Black Hawk, at 40 years old, has parts that are obsolete or hard to get— some vendors don’t want to make parts for it because the drawings are too difficult to read, and they would have to reverse engineer to make a model, mold or cast- ing to create a replacement part from that “old, often hard-to-read drawing,” Myers said. “We can use these models to give to vendors to perhaps create a part after it’s been qualified for advanced manufactur- ing, after it’s gone through the appropriate qualification process.”
LOOKING AHEAD
AMCOM’s Data and Analytics Center is looking at how to fix or improve processes already in place, as well as how to lay the foundation for the future. The Black Hawk digital-twin pathfinding project is part of that future. (Photo by Lisa Simunaci, AMCOM)
In the future, the Army could require manufacturers to provide a digital twin with each type of aircraft—creating a digital thread from the beginning of the manufacturing processes. In fact, the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2022 asks that DOD report on the development of digital twin tech- nology and how it can be best used in the future.
TWINS AND THREADS The digital twin has another sibling, sort of—the digital thread. What’s the difference between a digital thread and a digital twin? Simply put, a digital twin is the current representation of a system or product, while the digital thread is a life- time record of the system or product, from creation to removal.
“Digital threads start at the begin- PROVEN PARTNER
One reason AMCOM chose to partner with Wichita State was that it already had demonstrated its capability by creating a digital twin of the Navy’s FA-18. (Photo by Lisa Simunaci, AMCOM)
ning,” Myers said. Engineers create a digital model of something that does not currently exist that they would like to produce—like a new and improved recliner, she explained. Tis is also where the digital twin begins, at the from-scratch manufacturing process. Te Black Hawk
88 Army AL&T Magazine Fall 2021
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