10DECEMBER 2024/JANUARY 2025 www.vanguardcanada.com
General Dynamics' Austin Douglas,
Director, Business Development, discussing
DIGITALspine with members of the
Canadian Armed Forces at CANSEC 2024.
P E R S P E C T I V E
Sponsored Content
As the Canadian Army forges ahead
with its digital transformation, one of its
key focus areas will be on data: accessing
it, protecting it, and leveraging it. Using
General Dynamics Mission Systems–Can-
ada's DIGITALspine as a data-centricity
enabler, the Canadian Army will realize
game changing gains in decision-making
power and operational effectiveness.
"Simply put, decisions are going to win
battles. Using advanced technologies,
DIGITALspine has the ability to process,
and exploit the right information quickly
and disseminate it across the network
optimizing the decision-action cycle
by presenting the essential information
needed for agile decision-making," said
Andrew Shepherd, vice president, Land
and Joint, General Dynamics Mission
Systems–Canada
An integrated tactical network, DIGI-
TALspine brings together previously
siloed technologies – video, chat, radios,
T
he war in Ukraine has war-
ranted a complete rethink
about battlefield dynamics.
This conflict is one that has
been marked by the use of
electronic warfare at an unprecedented
scale and it is changing what the Canadian
Armed Forces and its allies have always
known about how to fight. From a C4ISR
perspective, there has been a distinct shift
from an era of network-centric tactical
communications and information systems
to one that is decidedly data-centric.
Where there was once a heavy depen-
dence on secure voice communications,
supported by radios and closed tactical
systems, the modern brigade requires a
single information environment where
users – from a Commander at HQ to the
dismounted soldier on the front lines – can
access the right data when and where they
need it to facilitate real-time information
exchange.
G E N E RA L DY N A M I C S'
D I G I TA Lspine
T U R N I N G D ATA I N T O D E C I S I O N S W I T H
"WE ARE DATA RICH AND
INFORMATION HUNGRY."
– QUOTE ATTRIBUTED
TO A GENERAL/FLAG
OFFICE IN THE 'CASE
FOR CHANGE' SECTION
OF THE DEPARTMENT OF
NATIONAL DEFENCE AND
CANADIAN ARMED FORCES
DATA STRATEGY
