WRIGHT-PATTERSON AIR FORCE BASE, Ohio - In a rapidly evolving global landscape, the ability to innovate and adapt is no longer a luxury, but a necessity. The Air Force Materiel Command Digital Materiel Management Team is taking this challenge head-on, revolutionizing how the Air Force designs, develops, and sustains critical capabilities—ensuring dominance in the modern battlespace.
“We are driving a digital first culture within our Airmen,” said Robert McQuade, DMM chief digital strategist. “By embracing digital proficiency as a core competency, we ensure our Airmen are equipped to meet tomorrow's challenges with the agility and precision that define the Air Force."
The Role of the DMM Team
Established in January 2023 to drive digital transformation across the AFMC enterprise, the team focuses on leveraging cutting-edge technology, data-driven decision-making, and collaborative ecosystems. It serves as the command’s central hub for aligning digital initiatives, implementing advanced tools and fostering a culture of innovation.
The DMM Team focuses efforts around six digital materiel management priorities:
- Culture: Shift the culture to collaboration versus review, as digital materiel management capabilities provide real-time interaction between government and industry.
- Tools: Use and provide access to product lifecycle management tools, system and process modeling tools, design and analytical tools across functional disciplines.
- Strategy: Ensure programs and organizations share a common vision of applying digital-first strategies across the enterprise.
- Training: Train the workforce to use and understand the power of DMM tools.
- Data: Deploy data standards, formats, and reference architects for major command lifecycle use.
- Infrastructure: Upgrade information technology infrastructure to set the foundation for DMM progress across the enterprise.
AFMC’s mission is clear: to power the world’s greatest Air Force. The team amplifies this mission by ensuring every aspect of development and sustainment is faster, smarter and more responsive to emerging challenges.
Success in Action
During the AFMC DMM Summit in June 2024, senior leaders agreed that a blueprint was needed to fulfill AFMC digital strategy pillars and answer the “Now what?” question. Thus, the DMM Implementation Framework was born.
The DIF, an internal working document, provides guidance to enterprise teams working to drive digital capabilities into all aspects of the materiel life cycle. Developed in collaboration with industry, the framework calls for use of digital methods, models, data and infrastructure to be standardized across the command.
On Nov. 8, 2024, the DMM team celebrated the one-year anniversary of the Digital Transformation Center, powered by the University of Dayton Research Institute, and marked a significant milestone with the grand opening of the Digital Enterprise Collaboratory, developed through a partnership between the DTC and Ohio University. This state-of-the-art addition to the DTC offers cutting-edge labs for hands-on training, digital upskilling, and immersive augmented and virtual reality experiences. Combined with the DTC’s dedicated collaboration spaces, where government, industry and academia regularly come together to share ideas, develop solutions and advance new technologies, these efforts foster enhanced collaboration and innovation across the force.
A Vision for Tomorrow
The DMM team embodies AFMC’s commitment to continuous improvement and innovation, driving transformative change across the enterprise. As threats grow more sophisticated and the pace of technological change accelerates, the team ensures the Air Force remains equipped to meet any challenge.
“By harnessing the power of digital technologies, we’re not just keeping pace with the future—we’re shaping it to deliver unmatched capability and readiness for the mission,” McQuade said.
For more information on DMM, visit https://www.afmc.af.mil/About-Us/Digital/ or the CAC-enabled Air Force Digital Transformation site at https://usaf.dps.mil/teams/afmcde/SitePages/Home.aspx.