Preserving capacity, General Tom Lawson, Chief of the Defence Staff, Keys to Canadian SAR
Issue link: http://vanguardcanada.uberflip.com/i/139409
C C4ISR by Chris Thatcher tic3 air Paving the air Force information highway We may be entering the era of Big Data, but data is only as valuable as the network it is on. And in a network-centric concept of operations where actionable information is vital, the system must be able to move, process and store data effectively. "The platforms are important but if you don't have the right networks in the middle, you will have less efficient platforms," LGen André Deschamps, former commander of the Royal Canadian Air Force, once acknowledged in an interview regarding his new and legacy aircraft. "We need the capacity to process, push and display information in a way that we need it." Major midlife modernization programs to older aircraft such as the CP-140 Aurora and CF-188 Hornet, upgrades to the CH146 Griffon helicopter, and the introduction of C-17 and C-130J transport fleets have greatly enhanced the intelligence, surveil16 JUNE/JULY 2013 www.vanguardcanada.com lance and reconnaissance (ISR) collection capability of the RCAF. Until recently, however, there was limited capacity to exploit that information in the way Deschamps envisioned. "The aircraft were outfitted with tremendous sensing systems as well as the ability to send the data to the ground. However, those projects did not include within their scope the ability to collect, manage, move or exploit the data once it reached the ground," acknowledged Major Jim Dunfield of the Directorate Aerospace Equipment Program Management. "Up until now, every time we had an exercise or operation we had to jury-rig a ground-based collection and data distribution system. Along the way we've purchased various pieces of equipment because we didn't have a formal holistic program to address the need. It is always a temporary solution. We would build it at