Speed is essential That sentiment is echoed by Major General Jonathan Cole , the Army ’ s Chief Information Officer ( CIO ) who says in the military environment , speed is so essential .
“ You just have to look at examples like the way that the Russians fought in Ukraine when they were using unmanned aerial systems networked into their artillery systems . And they were able to provide targeting information so quickly that the Ukrainians were unable to respond fast enough ,” says Maj Gen Cole .
“ It ' s often a linkage between what we call the sensor to the effector and the faster you can deliver that cycle of intelligence to delivery of effects then the more likely you are of being able to out-compete and beat your adversary .”
Speed is of the essence , and that is true of the rapid digital transformation the Army is undergoing , while also recognising that a lot of its capital equipment is legacy equipment
– some of which has been in service for decades . That is why the open architecture is so important .
A good example is the Land Environment Tactical Communications and Information Systems ( LE TacCIS ) programme , where the Army has taken legacy radios , computers , data terminals , and is gradually swapping those out .
“ We are building an open architecture , which enables us to inject new digital technologies , predominantly applications , artificial intelligence tools ,” says Maj Gen Cole . “ We are paving the way for those in the future , but we have to do the hard yards of the backend work , which is about open architectures . cybermagazine . com 77