Vanguard Magazine

June/July 2013

Preserving capacity, General Tom Lawson, Chief of the Defence Staff, Keys to Canadian SAR

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E editor's note Ae EDITOR Chris Thatcher editorvanguard@netgov.ca CONTRIBUTORS BGen Greg Loos RAdm Andrew Smith Ian Glenn Paul Mitchell Ken Hansen Simon Roy Henning Jacobsen Jean-Christophe Boucher Ian Coutts EDITORIAL ADVISORY BOARD LGen (Ret'd) Bill Leach LGen (Ret'd) George Macdonald VAdm (Ret'd) Greg Maddison LGen (Ret'd) Michel Maisonneuve Ambassador Graham Green Professor Philippe Lagassé SALES VICE PRESIDENT PUBLIC SECTOR SALES Terri Pavelic (905) 727-4091 ext. 225 terrip@netgov.ca National Account Manager Marcello Sukhdeo (905) 727-4091 ext. 224 marcellos@netgov.ca MARKETING DIRECTOR Mary Malofy ART & PRODUCTION ART DIRECTOR Elena Pankova SUBSCRIPTIONS AND ADDRESS CHANGES CIRCULATION DIRECTOR James Watson circulation@promotive.net (705) 812-0611 CORPORATE PUBLISHER John R. Jones publisher@netgov.ca Publisher's Mail Agreement: 40052410 Return undeliverable Canadian addresses to circulation dept. 24-4 Vata Court, Aurora, ON L4G 4B6 Vanguard magazine is published 6 times per year by Promotive Communications Inc. All opinions expressed herein are those of the contributors and do not necessarily reflect the views of the publisher or any person or organization associated with the magazine. Letters, submissions, comments and suggested topics are welcome, and should be sent to assoceditor@netgov.ca REPRINT INFORMATION: Reproduction or photocopying is prohibited without the publisher's prior written consent. High quality reprints of articles and additional copies of the magazine are available through circulation@netgov.ca PRIVACY POLICY: We do not sell our mailing list or share any confidential information on our subscribers. VANGUARD OFFICE 24-4 Vata Court, Aurora, ON L4G 4B6 Phone: (905) 727-4091 Fax: (905) 727-4428 4 JUNE/JULY 2013 www.vanguardcanada.com Data analysis This is an issue about data. That was not the original theme, but as in many things, data has a way of taking over. Modern militaries thrive on data. They are at the same time both overwhelmed by and starved for the bits and bytes that flow from sensors and myriad other sources. An army may march on its stomach, but in today's networked battle space, it lives on data. In fact, without data, it is blind. But data has become Big Data, which IBM has defined as high volumes of information coming at high velocity, from a variety of sources that are not always trustworthy. The veracity of data, in fact, may be one of the biggest challenges. Equally problematic, though, is its utility. Data unstructured is not very helpful. Without order to data, it is impossible to gain insight and actionable intelligence, IBM has said. Former commander of the RCAF, LGen André Deschamps, made that point in an interview last summer, noting that his aircraft had great sensors but his air force did not have all the necessary means to manage the information and imagery they provided. It also lacked a dedicated trade of data fusion specialists to assemble those bits and bytes into that actionable intelligence. So this has become an issue about moving, fusing, protecting, exploiting, and even measuring the data that flows throughout the defence organization. We begin with an interview with BGen Greg Loos, today the commander of Joint Task Force North in Yellowknife but until early June the Director General, Cyber. Over the past two years, he has been working on a campaign plan to "operationalize" the cyber domain. While his focus has been on the protection of networks and data, he has begun the process to understand "where the opportunities are" to exploit data. Major Jim Dunfield explains TIC3 Air, a project to move data from air force sensors – voice, video, imagery or written – once it reaches the ground. Common deployable ISR and tactical data link systems, ground stations and IP-capable radios might not sound like much, but this new architecture will change the concept of operations, especially for intelligence analysts, he says. We also share two breakthroughs in the transmission of data, a beyond-theline-of-sight capability and a wireless network via wideband high frequency radio. F-35 test pilot Bille Flynn explains the implications of data fusion on the tactics that fighter pilots will now employ, and Paul Mitchell has some thoughts on why the situational awareness resulting from sensor fusion may factor more heavily than stealth in the decision for Canada's next fighter. Finally, RAdm Andrew Smith, lead for the Defence Renewal Team, is seeking to measure data or, more precisely, the performance of business processes, all while creating a culture change within the Canadian Armed Forces. So, we are data dense, but hopefully we have provided some structure to the information. Netw - Th (A - Fix - Clo - Clo - In -M - Ta - In Chris Thatcher, Editor d

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