Introduction

Digital twins and Full Mission Virtualization™ are transforming how national security organizations design, test, and deploy space systems. But as these capabilities advance, leaders face a new challenge: determining when a virtualized system is not only technically feasible but truly mission-ready. Traditional Technology Readiness Levels (TRLs) measure engineering maturity—yet they don’t address operational relevance or how to weigh mixed TRLs against urgent mission demands.

Enter MATS: The Mission Alignment and Technology Readiness Score.

MATS combines two axes of readiness:

• vTRL: Virtual Technology Readiness Level

• MRL : Mission Relevance Level

Together, they form a rigorous, decision-ready model to reduce uncertainty, prioritize investments, and deploy with confidence.

The Readiness Gap in a Virtual Era.

Digital engineering has produced a new generation of capabilities: digital twins, live-virtual-constructive environments, and simulation-backed mission rehearsals. These tools are positioned to help overcome one of the biggest gaps in current frameworks: assessing integrated mission readiness under realistic conditions. Although TRLs provide insights into component maturity, they don’t show whether the complete system can perform under real-world constraints.

MATS reframes readiness from a “Go / No-Go" technical lens to a dynamic, mission-driven lens. It scores:

• Can the technology work? (vTRL)

• Should we use the technology for this particular mission? (MRL)

 vTRL (Virtual Technical Readiness Level).

vTRL measures how technologically mature a virtual system or digital twin is, taking into account:

• Model fidelity and validation

• Real-time telemetry integration

• Interoperability across platforms

• Integration with ops architecture

• Performance under test or simulation

MRL: Virtual Alignment Level for Operational Relevance. 

MRL measures how well the virtual system supports a specific mission, including:

• Mission fit (ISR, kinetic, denial)

• Performance under threat (jamming, cyber)

• Responsiveness to C2 and decision cycles

• Suitability for joint/coalition ops

• Urgency within mission timeframes

 Think of MRL as: "Would a commander fight to keep this system in the fight?"

MATS.

MATS is the composite score of VITAL and MRL. It is scaled from 0 to 10 and uses a geometric mean to ensure neither metric overpowers the other.

MATS (Mission Alignment Readiness Score) = √(VITAL × MRL)

MATS can provide a 2D plot with:

• X-axis: vTRL (0–10)

• Y-axis: MRL (0–10)

This creates four actionable zones:[AF2] 

1. High vTRL / High MRL: ✅ Deploy immediately

2. High v/ Low MRL: ❓ Park in innovation queue

3. Low vTRL / High MRL: ⚡ Accelerate S&T investment

4. Low vTRL / Low MRL: ❌ Divest or stop

Thus, MATS becomes the "Credit Score Dashboard" for virtual capability decisions. 

Use Cases for MATS Today. Current use cases for the MATS framework include embedding it into:

• Space Systems Command (SSC) architecture reviews

• POM and JROC investment decisions

• Tech transition prioritization

• Wargame readiness validation

• Coalition interoperability scoring

Commercial platforms such as Antaris TrueTwin™ provide Full Mission Virtualization™ to dynamically deliver MATS results based on live or simulated mission data, enabling rapid trade study analysis. Results can be shared through existing dashboards or delivered via APIs to other systems.

Conclusion

Weaponizing Readiness. In an era of space conflict and compressed decision cycles, digital engineering alone is not enough — the Department of Defense must make these systems decidable. MATS operationalizes Full Mission Virtualization™ by giving leaders a quantifiable, intuitive, and actionable readiness framework. It bridges engineering truth with mission consequence, ensuring the U.S. builds the right systems and launches them for the right mission at the right time. 

About the Authors

Dr. Lisa Costa was the former Chief Technology and Innovation Officer of Space Force and is an expert in artificial intelligence (Al), cyber, and irregular warfare. She is a consultant to Antaris.

John Trionfo is the President of Defense Solutions and the Chief Growth Officer at Antaris. He has led simulation programs for military and commercial platforms and has brought numerous startups from vision to growth to successful exit.