Less Kit with More Hit

The reason I decided to write this personal viewpoint is one of frustration I think more than anything else. I have worked in the defence technology sector ever since leaving the Army back in 2000 and over that time the MOD has become vastly more technology focused but still in my opinion operates within old boundaries.

A while ago I attended a TechUK Drone session and I was blown away with the content, but despite all the amazing technology we have in this arena and having spoken to some of the SME’s about the incredible work they do there was one nagging thought I couldn’t shake off.

Why do we have people jumping out of planes or driving vehicles or maybe even tabbing into locations with all manner of Black Boxes that when broken are rendered completely useless.

The Solution As I See It

Now this is where I am prepared to be schooled but this type of scenario is one that has been common across the IT world for decades. You have a number of high quality solutions be that applications or hardware and they come with their own black box. Now 9 times out of 10 the only thing that box is doing is hosting some sort of X86 compute in order to run the software needed for the solution (You see where I’m going with this). I’ve seen this in industry numerous times in the past and specifically in the world of Telco. The majority of their solutions came from 3^rd party vendors who would just install a black box in a rack in order to expand their capabilities. At some point they would reach a physical capacity limit and then need to stand up a whole new datacentre (Crazy). That was until one of them decided to truly embrace technology and take full advantage of Virtualisation. They decided that going forward they wanted the solutions in a virtual format that would allow them to run more than one solution on a single box and enable them to massively reduce their datacentre requirements. Now in order for them to be able to achieve this they needed to mandate an Architectural Framework for the vendors to adhere to. This meant they could use common interfaces and protocols with no propriety connectors etc and be able to host all of their solutions on a common platform.

This is where I thought to myself “Wouldn’t it be a good idea if the MOD took the same approach”. If a serviceman was able to deploy with a small form factor portable device capable of hosting some virtual machines (Laptop maybe) and utilise its common interfaces to plugin all manner of operational devices (Drone controller, Antenna’s etc) then he would only need this one platform to potentially deploy and control every model of Drone (Read anything else in here you can think of) he needed for that operational need. Now this will only work if a Framework is put in place to ensure all future capability is designed for this approach. As the Telco’s found out this will be immediately pushed back upon by the suppliers, but it only took one to sign up to it and all the rest followed because they didn’t want to be out of business and low and behold they are now 100% virtualised and using half of the infrastructure they had before and it actually runs faster than ever!

I appreciate that there would still need to be a Black box of some description to house the Drone, Antenna, controller etc but this would be all that was required regardless of the different capability they deployed with. There would be a single laptop (or maybe more as a man on the ground can easily carry a laptop) that could connect to a common antenna and controller that would be the same antenna and controller for any model of drone he needed to use. The only moving part would be the Drone itself that would vary dependant upon mission. The operator could load up the unique virtual machine for that supplier (stored on the laptop or issued as a USB maybe) and he immediately has access to use any capability he needs. I’ve used Drones throughout this as my example as I was amazed at the kit our operators deploy with for each type of drone they need but this could be replaced by anything you can think of in the field.

Summary

A single laptop or device to run anything! No Blackbox needed for every different capability of a mission! No chance!

I hope you’ve enjoyed this blog and I’m more than happy to sit down and discuss this idea with anyone who will listen to me.

I also want to highlight that these are my Personal Thoughts on this and not Broadcoms.

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Fred Sugden

Associate Director, Defence and National Security, techUK

Fred is responsible for techUK's activities across the Defence and National Security sectors, working to provide members with access to key stakeholders across the Defence and National Security community. Before taking on the role of Associate Director for Defence and National Security, Fred joined techUK in 2018, working as the Programme Head for Defence at techUK, leading the organisation's engagement with the Ministry of Defence. Before joining techUK, he worked at ADS, the national trade association representing Aerospace, Defence, Security & Space companies in the UK.

Fred is responsible for techUK’s market engagement and policy development activities across the Defence and National Security sectors, working closely with various organisations within the Ministry of Defence, and across the wider National Security and Intelligence community. Fred works closely with many techUK member companies that have an interest in these sectors, and is responsible for the activities of techUK's senior Defence & Security Board. Working closely with techUK's Programme Head for Cyber Security, Fred oversees a broad range of activities for techUK members.

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Raya Tsolova

Senior Programme Manager, techUK

Raya Tsolova is a Programme Manager at techUK.

Prior to joining techUK, Raya worked in Business Development for an expert network firm within the institutional investment space. Before this Raya spent a year in industry working for a tech start-up in London as part of their Growth team which included the formation and development of a 'Let's Talk Tech' podcast and involvement in London Tech Week.

Raya has a degree in Politics and International Relations (Bsc Hons) from the University of Bath where she focused primarily on national security and counter-terrorism policies, centreing research on female-led terrorism and specific approaches to justice there.

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Jeremy Wimble

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Jeremy manages techUK's defence programme, helping the UK's defence technology sector align itself with the Ministry of Defence - including Defence Digital, DE&S, innovation units and Frontline Commands - through a broad range of activities including private briefings and early market engagement events. It also supports the MOD as it procures new digital technologies.

Prior to joining techUK, from 2016-2024 Jeremy was International Security Programme Manager at the Royal United Services Institute (RUSI) coordinating research and impact activities for funders including the FCDO and US Department of Defense, as well as business development and strategy.

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Tracy supports several areas at techUK, including Cyber Exchange, Cyber Security, Defence, Health and Social Care, Local Public Services, Nations and Regions and National Security.

Tracy joined techUK in March 2022, having worked in the education sector for 19 years, covering administration, research project support, IT support and event/training support. My most outstanding achievement has been running three very successful international conferences and over 300 training courses booked all over the globe!

Tracy has a great interest in tech. Gaming and computing have been a big part of her life, and now electric cars are an exciting look at the future. She has warmed to Alexa, even though it can sometimes be sassy!

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Less Kit with More Hit

Background

The Solution As I See It

Summary

techUK's Defence Campaign Week 2024 - DefTech: Technology Transforming Defence

DefTech: Technology Transforming Defence - techUK Report Published

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