The Department of the Air Force plans on releasing the second version of a reference architecture and roadmap for a new ecosystem that streamlines software convergence and data access across the service branch.
During a GovExec webinar on Sept. 25, Jason Bonci, chief technology officer (CTO) at the Department of the Air Force, explained that the service branch is continuing to gather feedback on its initial rollout of reference architecture and roadmap for an application programming interface (API) platform, and is now working to incorporate those insights into the second version of the reference architecture this fall.
“We’re going to be taking in continued feedback and updating and publishing a second [ reference architecture] sometime this fall,” Bonci said.
“We continue to have these product market fit discussions on our reference architecture to determine if and where it needs to be adjusted, or maybe if the supporting products need to be adjusted,” he said.
The Air Force Office of the Chief Information Officer (CIO) issued the initial version of a API reference architecture and roadmap on July 25, outlining the technical framework the Air Force intends to adopt to implement an API-first methodology, which is designed to enhance secure data access and facilitate sharing of software interfaces.
The transition to an API framework will be a gradual process for the Air Force. Rather than immediately replacing current solutions, the initial version outlines a plan to achieving a feature-complete end state that the Air Force plans to deliver first. After that, existing solutions will gradually converge into this unified framework.
“We’re trying to figure that out now what is going to take to make an API architecture successful … [and] we’re confident that the initial release is directionally correct,” Bonci said. “Over the next few months, we will continue engaging with our software ecosystem to ensure developers understand what they need from us for an API-first approach.”
Bonci explained that the end goal is to support all software development efforts and methods of data sharing throughout the Air Force.
