Page 36 - Australian Defence Magazine Nov 2018

C4I
ARCHITECTURE
“Emerging technologies give Defence the opportunity to rethink the problem by using a broader framework.”
organisation, allocated by project, and can- • not be used to fund the engagement with in- dustry to design the force at the program lev-
el. Simplistically, Defence can expend funds
to study project level specifications but not for the integrated design of the force. Surely it is smarter to expend some funds up front in the program design phase to avoid repeating the project level mistakes of the past and to better prepare the ADF for a 5th Gen future?
Next Steps
With the foregoing discussion on the problems and the opportunities as back- ground, the following are some sugges- tions for consideration:
• The design of the 5th Gen IME is not an IT issue that can be delegated to the CIOG or an IT contractor; it is the foundation of the future 5th Gen Force and it requires, as a first step, the devel- opment of a future CONOPS. It is a whole of force design issue and as such it should be under the direct control of the VCDF.
The lack of funding for engagement with Industry and a wider range of do- main experts must be addressed and a mechanism created to build an inte- grated design team. A mechanism that could be considered is an adaptation of the Rapid Prototyping, Development and Evaluation (RPD&E) initiative that commenced under the NCW pro- gram in 2002 and ran for over 15 years. RPD&E engaged a coalition of industry participants very early in the process of project development, with the aim of trying to get a solution to the warfighter quickly. If the model was adapted to ad- dress the Integrated Design at the Pro-
gram and Capability Stream level it may produce similar rapid and effective force design outcomes.
If Defence is to develop a 5th Gen force
integrated architecture there needs to be a resourced IME Strategy and Roadmap that incorporates:
• The Design of an Integration and In-
teroperability Framework that supports the design and development of the 5th Gen Force.
• The documentation of the “As Is” archi- tecture (already underway).
• The development of a “To Be” technical architecture and design that is driven by a future operational architecture that is derived from a future force CONOPS.
• Design to ensure graceful degradation of the 5th Gen IME in the operational environment which will be increasingly congested, contested and constrained.
• Appropriate tools, simulations and ex- ercise to prove capability as a part of the Plan Aurora implementation.
It is also worth reflecting on the current
Defence Sovereign Industrial Capability
36 | November 2018 | www.australiandefence.com.au