Deploying digital operations to protect national security

In an expanded digital landscape for defence, the ability to develop, procure and adopt commercial technology at speed is critical to maintaining competitive military advantage. 

	Carly Macmeikan Industry Executive – Microsoft Defence & Intelligence
	Lloyd Hewitt Business Lead – Microsoft Worldwide Public Sector Defence & Intelligence

To ensure our defence force remains positioned to meet our global and regional security challenges, dramatically increasing the speed of technology development, procurement and partnership may be necessary. Increasing collaboration across the myriad of allied innovation organisations will help to accelerate innovation and limit duplication of research and development efforts across services and nations.  

Why this matters now?

• The age of the hybrid and remote warfare with an increased tempo of grey zone warfare has expanded network perimeters. As boundaries become less defined, the defence ecosystem must act to shore up systems, data and workers against adversaries aiming to take advantage of this modern and changing digital landscape.
  
• Sovereignty doesn’t necessarily equal security. As demonstrated over the past year, modern conflicts often include combined cyber-attack and kinetic effect on physical sovereign assets.
  
• The implications of wartime operations for global cybersecurity see multi-domain warfare playing out in real time. It is the world’s first ‘broadband war’.
  
• The legacy procurement environment of 30 years ago no longer makes sense in a multi-domain, integrated battlefield with an increased tempo.
  
• The next great power competition will likely be won or lost based on the speed at which new technology can be developed and adopted.

This expanded digital landscape for defence is ripe with opportunity, but it also presents that same opportunity for adversaries employing sophisticated cyber attacks targeting defence systems, data and people. Our forces need to work toward change-readiness and rapid response for the coming conflicts. No nation can fight alone, and it requires a collective approach across nations and industry – including non-traditional vendors – to maintain competitive advantage.

So, what must we do now to enable this posture?

1. Prioritise a trusted and secure digital backbone.
   
2. Enhance interoperability – enabling secure data and information sharing with partners, allies and agencies.
   
3. Maintain effective collaboration with allies and the defence industrial base (DIB) through a modern capability lifecycle.
   
4. Accelerate battlespace success through digital transformation.

For more information, the full Defence PoV covering these topics and case studies is available here.

Or, join us for the next blog where we discuss how Defence organisations are deploying trusted and secure digital backbones to reduce the threat of technologically advanced adversaries. It starts with removing the risk and vulnerability of legacy technology and adopting commercially available technology as a force multiplier.