www.vanguardcanada.com APRIL/MAY 2022 21
INTERVIEW
ARMY
A Canadian Armed Forces Soldier demonstrates a suite
of military equipment for the Integrated Soldier System
Project. Photo: Private Tori Lake Canadian Forces Support
Unit (Ottawa) – Imaging Services.
This is an aspect where the Army has lots
of opportunity to improve and industry
can help us develop a culture of innova-
tion. We need to approach innovation
from two perspectives. First, we must look
for small opportunities that can be funded
and executed within Army authorities and
resources to not only solve digital prob-
lems, but also to start building a digital
culture. This leads to the second aspect of
this approach which is to use these small
victories to inform larger efforts such as
our Integrated Command and Control
System modernization under SSE 42.
Since innovation is essential to success
in the private sector, we need to build a
mechanism to partner with companies that
can help us solve problems that will fuel
our digital transformation.
Q Please provide an update on the
Canadian Army Digitalisation Roadmap
and fostering of a Canadian Army Digital
Culture. Will the growing threat of near
peer competition and need to adopt
ADO in a timely manner increase the
prioritization and resources allocated
to digitalisation transformation? What
opportunities do you see for industry to
support this transformation through the
provision of services to enable transfor-
mation strategy and plan development,
share lessons learned, increase capacity,
or other ways?
There's no doubt that Russia's invasion
of Ukraine has brought the state of our
current capabilities, and the timelines for
delivery of our future capabilities, into
sharper focus. I don't know how the
Department or Forces will adjust priori-
ties based on this heightened threat in
Europe, but I will continue to champion
digital transformation as the single most
important element of Army moderniza-
tion and our success in this endeavour
will be key to our ability to continue as a
reliable and credible military to our allies
