Vanguard Magazine

www.vanguardcanada.com DECEMBER 2021/JANUARY 2022 15 The Journey has Begun, What has been Learned? In addition to looking at partners, the CAF must also look internally. The past decades have seen major investments in digital technologies and there have been many successes, a fact that is often over- looked. Canada has effectively force gener- ated and exercised command and control of deployed forces in both domestic and expeditionary missions using the C4ISR Systems in use today. Canada has fielded a myriad of sensors in all domains and has successfully interoperated with coalition partners, key requirements of the C4ISR System. As mentioned above, Canada has already fielded and is using many systems that form part of the C4ISR System; the opportunities offered, and constraints im- posed by these fielded systems must be analysed and only the CAF can do that. Last year the CAF took a significant step by identifying the Vice Chief of the Defence Staff as the champion for digital transformation. Leadership and engage- ment at the highest levels are essential for the design of a common system; once de- signed and agreed to, implementation can be decentralised if it is in accordance with the central plan. 'Doing digital' will require new skills, new structures, new training, new part- ners and changing behaviour and culture to promote a digital mindset. The CAF knows what is working now and what is not. They know what their training sys- tems are capable of and how their policies impact system development and fielding. Also, only the CAF can determine what functions they must provide in support- ing the C4ISR System and what func- tions they are willing to rely on a partner to provide. No single organisation, mili- tary, public sector or commercial, has all the knowledge and experience to execute digital transformation on their own, part- nering is necessary for success. Industry as a Partner Canadian industry has been successful in delivering the equipment and services re- quired by the CAF and they have the ca- pability and desire to continue doing this. However, the digitised future may require more from industry and Canadian indus- try is ready to partner with the CAF for not only the delivery of technology but to help operate, maintain, evolve, and train the technology. Partnering is not buying products from industry but working with industry, and possibly academia, to iden- tify needs, design and deploy solutions and support, to potentially include a role in op- erating deployed/fielded systems. As a col- league once described it, the differentiation between suppliers and partners is simple – 'compete for commodities, partner for trust.' One area that a growing number of companies are offering their experience and approaches is in assisting the senior levels with the overall digital transforma- tion process; an opportunity for the CAF to leverage learning from industry's experi- ences in digitisation. Each of these poten- tial partners have a proven framework with supporting processes but the CAF needs to select one and stick with that partner, picking multiple partners at this level could fragment the CAF's digital journey. There are multiple potential suppliers for every component of the CAF C4ISR Sys- tem, despite what many from industry will say. Based on the input of both internal and external stakeholders, requirements can be identified, and these requirements can form the basis of a competition. Once a technology is provided by a supplier, a partnership must be formed to support the integration and fielding of that tech- nology; that partnership could be with the C4ISR SRCE is the only preferred untethered augmented reality training solution on the market with real- time location, movement, orientation and bio signal sensing in a live and virtual environment. SRCE allows participants and trainers the opportunity to gather and review performance data both in real- time and for immediate and interactive after-action review (AAR) with more details than currently available in shoot house training. IN V E R IS T R A ININ G .C OM/S R CE See it here: (8 0 0) 8 13 - 9 0 4 6 Call us: SRCE_half-page_Ad7x4.625-vanguard.indd 1 SRCE_half-page_Ad7x4.625-vanguard.indd 1 1/5/2022 1:13:44 PM 1/5/2022 1:13:44 PM

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