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c4Isr
22 FEBRUARY/MARCH 2017 www.vanguardcanada.com
by nestor arellano
C4ISR needS
Senior officers open up on
s
ystems interoperability, reach-
back capability, and streamlin-
ing of the procurement process:
these were the common themes
that surfaced in several panel discussions
among senior military officers and defence
industry representatives in Vanguard's
C4ISR and Beyond 2017 conference in
Ottawa on February 2.
Commanders and military personnel
need access to up-to-date tools that will
help them gather and analyze relevant in-
formation that soldiers in the battlefield
can rely on conduct decisive actions, ac-
cording to the officers from various ser-
vices that attended the event.
"Every single service in the Canadian
Armed Forces uses C4ISR and relies on
C4ISR data," said Brig. Gen. Frances Al-
len, Director General of Cyberspace for
the CAF. "C4ISR needs to be recognised
as a joint-enabling capability unto itself…
a capability that must exist and be cham-
pioned." She also said that the military is
working on its cyberspace roadmap.
Allen, who was the opening keynote
speaker at the event, pointed out that
with more IT systems relying on the In-
ternet, cyberspace is evolving rapidly into
a critical component of C4ISR.
The conference's master of ceremonies
was Col. (Ret'd) Andre Dupuis, president
of Space Strategies Consulting Ltd. The
event was divided up into four panels.
Panel 1 dealt with the main C4ISR chal-
lenges of the military service. The panelists
