Vanguard Magazine

20 APRIL/MAY 2024 www.vanguardcanada.com to be able to defend against the drone. So those are two things. The other one would be long-range precision strikes. We've seen the advent of missile systems in Ukraine that are sup- porting them and able to strike deep into the second echelon and the rear of the Russians. And you're seeing those are criti- cal enablers for their campaign. You also need to have a significant anti-armour ca- pability. You need to have strike and you need to have a significant UAS capability at the same time. We're re-learning things that we knew 30 years ago, including the advent of elec- tronic warfare in the battlefield, and how it's important to make sure you reduce your digital signature at the same time. So those are really four key lessons that all our allies and partners are also learn- ing. The Ukrainians are learning at a very fast pace, and we need to learn from them. We are training Ukrainians, but we're le- veraging their lessons and insights. I think this is important, that the learning is not one-sided. You're seeing both sides of that conflict learning rapidly. Q To switch gears, disinformation is on the rise and it poses a significant obstacle. Was this topic touched upon at this symposium? It wasn't. We've been talking about it for the last few years. I think Canadians are becoming much more attuned to it. The government has certainly been vocal on it in terms of making sure that we have free and fair elections. With the advent of tech- nology, disinformation becomes much more refined, and much harder to detect. Disinformation and misinformation are now very hard to detect with capabilities that exist today, and you're seeing it play out daily. Q I know that there's been a lot of talk about space. Did you touch on that? Not specifically. When we talk pan-domain we're talking on the land, in the air, on the sea, in cyber and in space, all within the broader information environment. We're seeing all-domain conflict on the battlefield right now, and most things are probably classified. You're seeing signifi- cant jamming on the battlefield, includ- ing space-based and ground-based capa- bilities. You're seeing electronic warfare space playing out not only in space, but terrestrially as well. So, you're seeing this conflict across all five domains within that broader information environment, and that's something for us to understand. How do you command and control that within all five? How do you organize your force for that? We're trying to learn as much as we can from our Ukrainian counterparts and our closest allies to make sure that we're pre- pared as we as we send our forces forward to make sure that they're ready to deter and, if necessary, defend NATO. Q Do you have any final thoughts? As we look at the operational challenges facing the Canadian Armed Forces, we must make sure we're learning the right lessons, incorporating our defence-indus- trial base, and making sure we're tied in with our closest partners. And you're seeing this in terms of our deployment to Latvia as part of the For- Several capabilities have come to the fore in the past few years. Early in the conflict we. saw anti-tank systems, guided missile anti-tank systems that were vital. At the same time, you're seeing the prevalence of attack drones and UAS - unmanned aerial systems. We're learning to make sure we have UAS capability with our deployed forces. You also have a counter UAS ca- pability, which is crucial because you want Early in the conflict we saw anti-tank systems, guided missile anti-tank systems that were vital. At the same time, you're seeing the prevalence of attack drones and UAS - unmanned aerial systems. We're learning to make sure we have UAS capability with our deployed forces. You also have a counter UAS capability, which is crucial because you want to be able to defend against the drone. I N T E R V I E W

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