DCTO(MC), MISSION CAPABILITIES
DCTO(MC), MISSION CAPABILITIES
Mission Engineering
Mission Engineering
Mission Engineering (ME) is the deliberate planning, analyzing, organizing, and integrating of current and emerging operational and system capabilities to achieve desired warfighting mission effects.
ME is an analytical and data-driven approach to decompose and analyze the constituent parts of a mission in order to identify measurable trade-offs and draw conclusions.
Mission Engineering studies and analyses seek answers to key technical challenges identified by the OSD, Joint Staff, Services, and Combatant Commands.
OUSD(R&E) develops, implements, and shares the ME process and methodology, best practices, and ME products with a user community across the Department of Defense. In addition, R&E has adopted mission engineering as a key element in the organization and executed ME analyses or studies to evaluate missions and assess efficacy of advanced technology from the modernization areas. These studies are coordinated across numerous stakeholders.
ME studies begin with the end in mind
- fulfilling the Warfighter’s need with actionable recommendations based on modeling and analysis of all available data -
and are scoped and aligned to stakeholder requirements.
ME Principles
Follow a mission-focused, threat-informed approach to identify capabilities and technologies to achieve mission objectives and close capability gaps.
Evaluate systems and systems of systems (SoS) in an operational mission context to inform stakeholders about building the right things, not just building things right.
Use validated mission definitions and trustworthy and curated data sets as the basis for analyses to answer a set of operational or tactical questions.
Ensure to balance the time frame of interest, analytical rigor to be used, and the complexity of the problem to be addressed.
Begin with the end in mind, a carefully articulated problem statement, the characterization of the mission and identification of metrics, and working through the collection of data and models needed to analyze the mission and document/convey the outputs (results).
Resources
GUIDES
OUSD(R&E) Mission Engineering Guide (MEG)
The MEG, first published in November 2020 by OUSD(R&E), provides overarching guidance and information on ME by defining a common lexicon of ME terminology; explaining what is and is not ME; describing best practices, principles, and attributes for ME analyses; and showing the benefits of using the ME process to inform engineering and modernization investment decisions.
The guide helps practitioners formulate problems and build a firm understanding of the main principles involved in performing analysis in a mission context. It provides users with insight on documenting and portraying results or conclusions in products that inform key decisions. R&E, through the ME COP, will continuously update the MEG. The next update is planned for late 2022.
BRIEFS
Mission Engineering Methodology: Studies and Analysis
The ME study process provides an analytical, data-driven approach to decompose mission elements; collect and analyze trustworthy data for the development of accurate models; develop realistic mission threads and mission engineering threads; and deliver recommendations and artifacts that help inform investment decisions.
ARTICLES
Mission Engineering: Guidance Provides Framework for Work With Industry
Mission Engineering: Ensuring Key Technologies Drive the Joint Warfighting Concept
Embracing Change: Shifting the DOD to an Approach for Modernization and Joint Warfighting Concept Development
Mission Engineering Definitions
CONTACT US
Contact the Mission Engineering Team
DCTO(MC)
Deputy CTO for Mission Capabilities
The Pentagon, Washington, DC 20301
Contact Us
Information for DCTO(MC): Contact OUSD(R&E) Staff
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