52 · MT 2/2023 Emerging Technologies An artist’s impression from Hensoldt which illustrates how Cloud Computing will enhance the connectivity and operational effectiveness of FCAS in the future. (Photo: Hensoldt) “We need hyperscale Cloud to unleash the power of our defence data and to satisfy our user needs. We will exploit world-class Cloud capabilities at all classifications, predicated on Cloud first as a principle. In all areas of defence, there are many uses cases where Cloud technologies would provide increased efficiencies and enable improved capability, with no area more important than our deployed forces. It’s critical that we exploit Cloud services that unlock our core assets, such as data, to better prepare our deployed forces in the battlespace,” the MoD’s strategy concluded. The document also outlined a series of strategic outcomes demanded by the MoD by 2025- described as the ‘Future of Cloud across Defence’. Outcomes include delivery of a secure and scalable platform to gain strategic military advantage; driving innovation through evergreen technologies; driving exploitation to realise benefits around efficiency and economic value; empowering digital age warfighters by maximising the survivability and security of innovative, world-class digital capabilities; and realising greater benefits by integrating with partners within the Cloud ecosystem. Technology constraints However, the strategy also warned how current technology core is too fragmented, fragile, insecure and obsolescent: “Getting greater, near-real-time analysis of rapidly changing data to combat modern threats is forcing us to revisit our approach to Cloud as a means to address legacy application shortfalls. We are not yet exploiting emerging technologies at pace and scale. We have too often traded-out technology refresh and have not driven sufficient integration and commonality,” the strategy suggested. “Continuing down this path will prevent us from exploiting emerging technologies at the pace and scale required to deliver the defence purpose. So far, we have established hyperscale Cloud services at ‘OFFICIAL’ and increased the maturity and evolution of MoD Cloud - which now offers a mix of public, private and hybrid Cloud services. To implement its strategy, the MoD continues to conduct engagements with industry partners with formal invitations to tend scheduled to be published over the course of 2023. By Q4 2023, a contract award for Hyperscale Framework for SECRET is scheduled to be announced ahead of initial and full operating capability by the end of 2024. Future Concepts Cloud computing also promises to play a critical role in a series of next-generation defence programmes including Future Combat Air System (FCAS) programmes being undertaken in the UK, Europe and further afield. FCAS programmes have already begun the design of sixth-generation combat fighters capable of supporting a number of game-changing technologies including Cloud Computing. Use Cases According to the UK MoD, Cloud Computing is ideally suited for land, air and maritime operations, specifically in support of enhancing the exploitation of data; advanced computing; enabling the Internet of Things; and providing ‘game-changing’ technology across defence. In terms of data exploitation, Cloud will support the soldier on the ground, providing overlays of augmented reality into the headsets of the end user, allowing them to navigate complex environment and to identify possible threats based on the intelligence provided by the processed data feeds, according to the MoD. Furthermore, Cloud Computing is particularly suited to supporting semi-autonomous platforms like Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) to “intelligently identify and locate any threats in the battlespace using AI while seamlessly transmitting stream data to central mission command”. Cloud Computing is also necessary to enable the Internet of Things (IoT) at the tactical edge with ‘initial’ levels in intelligence generated through a combination of satellites, sensors and human intelligence to identify areas with initial reconnaissance providing training and operational data for AI pattern recognition, the MoD added. In surveillance, cloud-based technologies allow personnel to process, exploit and disseminate (PED) huge amounts of data from ISR systems to provide “more detailed and accurate information” across all environments. Cloud Computing is also capable of amalgamating data from across a battlespace to “develop and generate synthetic like-for-like environments that can then be visualized through AR and VR technologies to support to mission preparation through detailed simulation,” according to the MoD. In terms of combat, Cloud solutions can also support “aerial object detection, IoT sensors and data analytics” which provide deployed forces with “enhanced insights at speed into their immediate environments as they engage their adversaries”. “Using data collected out in the field by IoT sensors and processed using Cloud base analytics, [technology] can support predictive maintenance of defence assets,” it was added. Finally, Cloud-based technologies support all levels of the command chain through automated data analysis of multi-information streams to “make improved data led decision from an increasing number of assets with the ability to leverage global connectivity to operate from a virtual command post”. According to the MoD’s strategy, warfighting at the tactical edge must be amplified through the adoption of ‘tactical edge Cloud technologies’. f
RkJQdWJsaXNoZXIy MTM5Mjg=