Page 26 - Australian Defence Magazine October 2019

DEFENCE BUSINESS
DST GROUP
DST aiming
SPEAKING to ADM at DST’s Scindicate series of events, Chief Defence Scientist Professor Tanya Monro, described her vi- sualisation of DST as like Vegemite spread thinly over a piece of toast.
“Much of our capability – not all, but much – is one or two people deep and we need to be able to move fast and with agil- ity in areas that require that,” she said.
“So the reshaping we need to mandate is to be able to build bigger, more agile teams in key areas where Australia can maintain niche capability because if we stay one or two deep we can’t compete with the best in the world.
“If I look at the international landscape it’s absolutely our niche edge that gives us access to collaborations but also access to data, to models, to the capability that the ADF needs,” Prof Monro said.
“At the current rate of technology change, for us to be complacent that we can maintain a capability edge with the current Vegemite model is unrealistic; I think we do have to back some horses and make some bets and decide the com- mission is right for a range of reasons plus being able to say we can maintain an edge in this area.”
DST would develop a suite of national missions she termed STaRshots (Science Technology and Research shots). These would be specific, inspiring, and start to align investments by industry and aca- demia into areas with which DST could work together in partnership at scale, Pro- fessor Munroe stated.
at STaRshots
Each StaRshot or mission would be sponsored by at least one Defence Capa- bility Manager and must have clearly de- fined transitions, mechanisms or pathways to deliver impact into the hands of the warfighter.
Chang Ho Choi of Defence Science and Technology tests modified boot soles that generate electricity when flexed during walking.
STaRshots
The first missions to be identified comprise developing above/below water sensors, in- formation, communications and data fu- sion to provide autonomous undersea sur- veillance (2022-28); and developing and demonstrating a capability to resiliently project force inside an adversary’s Anti- Access Area Denial (A2AD) surveillance, jamming, deception and information war- fare defences (2019-24).
Others involve developing a world-lead- ing Position, Navigation, Timing (PNT) system to reduce reliance on space-based PNT (2020-26); and the development of a coordinated information warfare
JULIAN KERR | DST EDINBURGH
Major changes are on the way in which Defence Science and Technology (DST) shapes and conducts its research, with emphasis being placed on bigger, more agile teams in key areas where Australia can maintain niche capabilities.
26 | October 2019 | www.australiandefence.com.au
DST