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Priorities announced by the Australian Government in 2018. Whilst the Priori- ties include complex systems integration as a part of a national surveillance and intelligence data collection, and analysis dissemination capability, the notion that Australian industry should have the capa- bility to support the integrated design of the whole of the force does not appear to have been considered.
This is in contrast to the US where Com- plex Systems Engineering, Integration, and Operations were proposed as core compe- tencies of the Department of Defense (and the industrial base) as being key to any fu- ture offset strategy. A further example of where the Sovereign Industrial Capability Priorities may need to be expanded is in the example of the advanced encryption tech- nologies discussed previously. The ADF has acquired or is acquiring platforms and sys- tems from a range of international suppliers including the US, UK, France and Israel. Surely encryption capabilities are a critical sovereign industry capability that will allow the ADF to employ these platforms and sys- tems as a part of an integrated force.
Conclusions
The ADF is acquiring 5th Gen platforms and systems; however, there is a risk that they will be shackled with an outdated communications and information net- work architecture. Emerging technologies give Defence the opportunity to rethink the problem by using a broader framework than that used to acquire the component parts to date. To take advantage of this op- portunity will however require a change in thinking and therefore culture. A 5th Gen force is not going to be effective without a 5th Gen IME design. Will 5th Gen be an ADF force enabler or will it be constrained by the roadblocks?
About the authors
Ian McDonald AM, MSc, DipEng, is a Weap- ons Design Engineer in the system of systems and countermeasures environment with over 43 years in ADF, USDOD ICT technology and Coalition militaries focused on interopera- bility and technology driven paradigm change.
Air Vice-Marshal John Blackburn (Retd) AO, MA, MDefStud, retired as the Deputy Chief of the RAAF in 2008 and is now the Board Chair of the Institute for Integrated Economic Research (IIER) – Australia and a Fellow of both the Institute For Regional Security and the Sir Richard Williams Foundation.
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