A quantitative approach to non-destructive evaluation (NDE) must be based on models of the measurement processes. A model's purpose is to predict, from first principles, the measurement system's response to material properties and anomalies in a material or structure. For the ultrasonic case a measurement model should include modeling of the generation, propagation and reception of ultrasonic signals, and the ultrasonic interactions that generate the system's response function. A measurement model has many benefits, which are discussed in the paper. Three examples of the productive use of quantitative modeling in conjunction with measured data are presented: the detection and sizing of fatigue cracks which emanate from weep holes in the risers of wing panels in the interior of an aircraft wing by the use of ultrasound generated on the exterior surface of the wing, the determination of the elastic constants of anisotropic thin films deposited on a substrate, and the detection and sizing of surface-breaking cracks by the use of the laser-source scanning technique for laser generated and detected ultrasound.