Istari unveils Lockheed partnership in hopes of digitally certifying aircraft

WASHINGTON — In the year since tech startup Istari Digital was awarded a $19 million Air Force contract to push the limits of digital engineering in aerospace, the company has been mum about its industry partner for the endeavor. But now, Istari is lifting the lid, announcing an arrangement with Lockheed Martin Skunk Works in an attempt to be the first to digitally certify an aircraft for flight.

Through the Air Force’s program — dubbed Flyer One in reference to the Wright Brothers — Istari and Lockheed are working to develop a digital twin of the existing X-56A drone that Lockheed built for testing with the Air Force and NASA. The team will modify some elements of the drone’s design, like its landing gear systems and cameras, according to an Istari press release published Monday, with the goal of proving that a digital design can be reliably certified for flight before an aircraft is physically built. 

“We’ve never digitally certified anything in aviation,” Istari CEO and former Air Force acquisition chief Will Roper said in a recent interview. “And it just defies logic with all of the planes that have been built and all of the data that’s been collected, all of the models and simulations that we have, that there hasn’t been anything we’ve been able to say is good enough for … certification using the models and sims themselves.”

According to Istari, the company’s digital engineering platform will interface with Lockheed’s existing X-56A simulations. The team’s “aim is to meet the burden of proof normally required physically for a Military Flight Release” with the new, digital model, Istari says. After that, the team plans to physically build and fly the digital model at Edwards Air Force Base. If all goes well, the physical aircraft’s performance will mirror its digital counterpart. Still, Roper cautioned about the limitations of the approach, considering that the X-56A has a headstart, having already been extensively modeled in simulations and real-world testing.

The Air Force did not immediately provide comment on the potential for digital certifications, but the fact that Istari’s September 2023 contract with the service specifically calls for “digital-first airworthiness” suggests the Pentagon is open to relying on 1s and 0s for the process.

At the time of that contract award, the Pentagon’s notice said that work would be completed by December 2025. A spokesman for Istari told Breaking Defense that timeline is still the plan, though specific milestones were not disclosable. In Istari’s announcement, Roper said the digital X-56A has passed a “major design review.”

As the former Air Force acquisition czar, Roper was notable for pushing the Pentagon to embrace more digital engineering in its weapon systems. He left government in 2021 to later found Istari, where he now works to strengthen digital engineering capabilities with firms across various industries. In addition to private sector arrangements, Istari has since expanded its work with the Air Force, winning a $9 million contract in June for a separate “Model One” program that a DoD notice explained will attempt to link several of the service’s digital engineering “silos” together. 

Regarding Istari’s work on Flyer One, Roper noted that risk tolerances can be higher with drones, considering there’s no human on board. And with the Air Force’s Collaborative Combat Aircraft drone wingman program gaining steam, he stated the Pentagon “need[s] a different certification process, something that looks more like software development, continuous integration and continuous delivery.”

As the specter of conflict with China looms, Roper has been consistently sounding the alarm about the West’s “cycle time,” or the ability to rapidly iterate new designs and push them out into the field. Pointing to everyday innovations in the war in Ukraine, speed, Roper emphasized, will be critical to winning the next war.

“Showing up with the right product too late is a losing strategy,” he said. “When I look at the world of technology that’s so inspiring to me, they live by the gospel of speed.”