Vanguard Magazine

Le to right: J Richard Jones, Vanguard Radio host and Simon Hughes, Lockheed Martin Reception Sponsor: Peter Smetny- Sowa, Regional Vice President, Systems Engineering, Fortinet Silver Sponsor: Pieter Decker, Director of Geospatial Capabilities, Raytheon Oceans Canada. The CAF's project-centric approach to capability management was identified as a challenge while early collabo- ration with industry on existing/proven so- lutions may be a better model. Ross Ermel, Assistant Deputy Minister Digital Services, stated that the C2 "Business Owner" needs to be involved in order to scale from the enterprise to the tactical edge of informa- tion, an enterprise cloud environment that is not vendor specific. Common approaches to Data Centric Security (DCS) will facili- tate the information advantage that Allies seek. MGen Peter Dawe, Chief of Combat Systems Integration (CCSI), highlighted the criticality of the experimentation be- ing conducted on Project OLYMPUS and Operation HIGHMAST where Canada will be deploying HMCS Ville de Quebec with the HMS Prince of Wales UK Carrier Strike Group in the spring of 2025. This experi- mentation will contribute significantly to the CAF's pursuit of Allied interoperability and Pan-Domain Command and Control (PDC2) decision advantage over our adver- saries by establishing Data-Centric Security policies and refining technical standards. Dominic Rochon, DM and CIO at Trea- sury Board Secretariate highlighted the im- portance of robust security policy to protect Canada's interests, but admitted that policy must adapt to changes in technology. Changing the Approach to Defence Procurement Panel Four was moderated by Dave Perry, President and CEO, Canadian Global Af- fairs Institute (CGAI) and addressed the evolution of procurement. Wendy Had- win, ADM Policy Industry at DND spoke of building trust to achieve decision ad- vantage and how the DND/CAF must remove barriers to information exchange. Simon Page, ADM Defence and Marine Procurement at PSPC, suggested that we collectively must position our ambition to be at the leading edge of technology and innovation and change our requirements capture process to match. Innovative ap- proaches are obvious and available should the leadership choose to embrace them. MGen (Ret'd) Nancy Tremblay, ADM Materiel, highlighted six major Land and Joint programs totalling $10 billion that have recently cleared Program Manage- ment Board (PMB) and moved into Defi- nition – precursors to Command Canadian Army's four initiatives. An attempt was made to define how to define a "Strategic Partnership" model and how industry would support DND/ CAF beyond existing frameworks. Sib- han Harty, ADM Defence Procurement Review acknowledged that the Defence Procurement Strategy (DPS) is 10 years old and requires a refresh alongside the forthcoming Defence Industrial Policy. All agreed that engaging with industry, in- cluding small and medium-sized businesses (SMB) early and often in modified, flexible and timely procurement process would be ideal. Continuous Capability Sustainment (CCS) should be the standard rather than the exception. In summary C4ISR and Beyond 2025 was a natural continuation from the previ- ous year. World events are shaping up to be unlike any other before, trust will be key factor for the defence ecosystem in developing the war fighting advantage. It will come down to strong partnerships and frank dialogue for innovation and modern- ization to succeed. Col Alexander (Sandy) Schwab (Ret'd) is a partner at CFN Consultants offering significant expertise and understanding into current C4ISR integration challenges. He served in the Canadian Armed Forces as an Army Signal Officer for over 38 years. www.vanguardcanada.com FEBRUARY/MARCH 2025 25 Le to right: MGen Simon Bernard, DComd, Canadian Joint Operations Command; BGen Richard Schmidt, DComd, Canadian Special Operations Forces Command; Kevin Newman, News Anchor and Journalist; virtual speakers: Maj Gen Mark Piper, Deputy Director of Operations, Headquarters North American Aerospace Defense; MGen David Abboud, Comd Canadian Forces Intelligence Command and Chief of Defence Intelligence

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