The Important Factors to Success in Digitizing Defense Forces

The Important Factors to Success in Digitizing Defense Forces

by Masashi FUJIMOTO
Senior Member of Research Committee, DRC

Many countries such as United State that attaches great importance to national defense capability have given priority to investing in digitizing forces with IT. Some critically important factors to success in digitizing defense forces can be obtained from the lessons that these countries have learned.

1. Consciousness Reformation that Endures the Pains Caused in IT Revolution

Budget and human resources allotted to defense are restricted. The numbers of platforms such as tanks, destroyers and fighters must be reduced to digitize forces by allotting resources to C4I systems. Such reformation that networks or communications are considered to be the basis of military power is the revolutionary reformation since our country began to have modernized military forces. This reformation causes violent pains in both military and industrial communities. To success in digitizing defense forces, the violent pains must be overcome. In order to overcome these pains, the importance and effectiveness of IT in future military fighting power must be really recognized. This consciousness reformation is required first of all, and is very difficult to be achieved.

Basic military operation doctrine includes timely and appropriate decision making, taking initiative continually, concentrating integrated combat power into critical time and place, and synchronizing closely maneuver, firepower and combat service supports. No military professional specialist protests these classical basic doctrines. And no military professional specialist protests the thought that gathering information about enemies and friends, exchanging and sharing common information closely between vertical and horizontal units are the most vital to execute these basic military operation doctrines.

IT is a tool that enhances capability of gathering information, exchanging information closely and sharing common information between vertical and horizontal units. Forces that are inferior in applying IT are inferior in executing basic operation doctrines. So, if other conditions are same, such military forces that are inferior in applying IT, will be defeated in war, just like such companies that are inferior in applying IT will be defeated in bossiness competition. Forces that are superior in applying IT can have the same level combating power with a fewer tanks, destroyers and fighters. The meaning of such expressions that IT age has come, is that these useful IT exists in market, and can be got easily by investing.

It is very important to have a kind of clear and basic recognition mentioned above about the necessity and effectiveness of digitizing forces. Otherwise, minute questions are discussed endlessly. For example, how much is combating power enforced numerically by digitizing? How to fight after digitizing must be presented at first. The organization and procedure of the commanding and staff’s activities in command post after digitizing must be established before applying IT. These questions are very difficult to be answered clearly in the actual situations in which all exercises or trainings are executed with non-digitized combating power structure without real experience of using IT. The enhancement of integrated combating power by digitizing is non-numerical and nonlinear phenomenon, so calculating numerically the enhancement, for example, is very difficult. As the result, programs to install C4I systems applying IT are postponed, because IT systems have no capabilities to kill enemy. This means that the effort to digitize forces is defeated by the pains required in IT transformation, and the international competitive ability of defense forces in information age becomes inferior to that of other countries. And defense forces will have no deterrent effectiveness.

The speed of progress in IT is high, and most of foreign military forces are being digitized rapidly. It is the most important for self-defense forces to apply IT, and to experience the effectiveness of IT immediately.

Interoperability between IT systems is necessary so that information is exchanged extensively between units vertically and horizontally. On the other hand, in digitized forcers, the important functions depend on information systems. Information systems become new weak points in military forces. Information systems must be protected against attack. Information assurance must be established. But two efforts to have interoperability and to achieve information assurance are opposite to each other. Pursuing one prevents to pursue another. Nevertheless both of them must be achieved in order to get information superiority and to win in future war. Interoperability and information assurance of information systems will become the most important factors to success in digitizing forces.

2. Interoperability between C4I Systems

The newest IT should be applied in new C4I systems. However, interoperability between new systems and old systems is required. The reusing and sharing application software between systems are also requested between information systems.
(1) Top-Level Architecture

Each C4I systems are acquired through different projects with different user requirements, different fiscal years and different companies contracted. It is necessary for all C4I systems to have common operating environment and standardization. Common operating environment and standardization between all C4I systems are called top-level architecture or high-level architecture. In top-level architecture, the procedure to test conformity of a C4I system to top-level architecture must be also provided.
(2) ata Fusion

Even if interoperability between hardware and software of each system are achieved, effective interoperability cannot be achieved, if data has no common usability between systems.

In digitized forces, enormous data or information are gathered by various sensors or information collecting units. Those data or information are ambiguous and conflict with each other. It becomes the most necessary and difficult works for military forces to fuse those date or information to use commonly between all units vertically and horizontally.

Data fusion technology is one of the most important military critical technologies, including data fusing algorithm, various expert systems and man-machine interface. Data fusion is very difficult technology to develop. Efforts and investment should be continued under long term project.

3.Information Assurance

Cyber attach is inexpensive, has a little risk, and has a big effect. In future, some countries will attach great importance to cyber attach as an asymmetric war method.

Cyber war is considered to appear an aspect of a seesaw game just like the electronic warfare in Electro-magnetic wave region. Each side uses in turn the newest effective technology to acquire superiority against opposite. But attacker has the initiative every time. Attacker can find out, someday without fail, the technological method to break defender, and can execute attack in the way where, when, how he wants, connecting with other attack such as physical surprise attack. Defender falls inevitably into inferiority in right after the attack. Any single countermeasure like firewall or virus detector is not effective.

It is very important to minimize damage of information, and to minimize the period when we are inferior. For this purpose, integrated concept of information assurance that includes countermeasure in all area of organization, operation, technology and human factor must be established. Furthermore, information assurance operation should be flexible with multi-tactics and enough depth of defense. Information assurance technical framework that covers not only a single method such as firewall bat also entire information system widely should de defined.

4. Electronic Warfare Capability

Information war is conducted using all IT. But electronic warfare capability in Electro-magnetic wave region will become more important to acquire superiority in future information war.

C4I systems and information users are dispersed during space, sky, sea and ground. Therefore equipment and sensors utilizing Electro-magnetic wave occupy the core of information systems. ECM capability and ESM capability must be continually improved to highest level.

5. Robust Field Communication System with Big Capacity and High Speed

(1) Network centric warfare

US joint force, army, navy and air force are repeatedly declaring in their 21st visions in information age that they build combating powers upon network base.

In past, they fought platform centric warfare, but in future they fight network centric warfare in which networks connecting platforms play the leading role. They say, forces that fight network centric warfare can change the war situation continually, and can accelerate the speed of change more. As the result, they can let opponents who are fighting platform centric warfare give their strategies up, and let the war end, or win the war.

In network centric warfare, the capabilities of communication systems become the most important factor. This reform of consciousness is requested, first of all, to success in digitizing forces.

(2) Robust Field Multi-Channel Communication System with Big Capacity and High Speed

In military forces that intensify digitization, robust field multi-channel communication system with big capacity and high speed must be provided first of all. In future war, as in Gulf War, communication systems are attacked first. The communication systems for defense operation must be robust enough against both physical and cyber attack.

Fixed base communication systems are too vulnerable against attack. Only field communication systems can maintain communication function required in any situations in future war, under the support of communication warriors’ operation capability, high combating skill level and high moral, and combat service support.

NTT decided to have “combating type” field communication systems in each area to offer public communication service in big disaster. The “combating type” field communication systems consist of mobile type satellite terminal, switching board, operators and so on.

All units in all level should have robust field multi-channel communication systems with enough big capacity and high speed. The more efficiency, compactness and dynamic operation of military forces are pursued, the higher percentage occupied by communication man and equipment should be recognized.

(3) Portable or Vehicular Type Radio Equipment

In the multi-channel communication systems with enough big capacity and high speed, even in the field systems, wires are necessary for end users. So, warriors in the front edge can not use those communication terminals. Users in higher-level command posts cannot use either during the times when command posts are moving. Therefore, portable or vehicular type single-channel radio equipment with high transmission capacity and speed are necessary. Success or not in digitizing battlefield depends on how high performance single-channel radio equipment is provided. Not only robust multi-channel field communication systems with big capacity and high speed, but also portable or vehicular type single-channel radio equipment with high transmission capacity and speed must be continually developed applying the newest technologies. On the other hand, every C4I systems must be designed so that they have enough performance under the condition of communication systems that are available at that real time.

6. Defense Know-How of Software Engineers

In the digitized battlefield, the capabilities of C4I systems influence directly the victory or defeat in combat. The capabilities of C4I systems depend on the good or bad of software applied. Software converts combating principle or doctrine into C4I system’s capabilities.

Software engineers must understand enough combating organization, doctrines or C4I activity procedures in order to make really useful software and C4I systems. War fighting know-how existing in the software engineers’ brains dominants the superiority or inferiority in future wars in information age.
(1) Decision Making Support System

Decision making support is one of the most important tasks of C4I system. To support decision-making by C4I system, software engineers must be able to recognize, disintegrate and integrate, in the sense of digital computer, the organization and C4I activities in command post concerned to specific C4I function. During these works, software engineers can find out what is to be entrusted to computer, and what is to be entrusted to human.
(2) Specificity of Defense Know-How

In many foreign countries, compulsory draft is adopted in military service. Also in countries in which application system is adopted, those who have finished military service have privileges in finding employment or attending school. So, most of engineers in general society have experience of military service, and can understand military affairs by their own military affairs mentality.

In Japan, under the special conditions of country, most of members of general society have no military mentality. Most of software engineers have no military mentality, either. It will be very difficult to built militarily effective software into defense C4I systems under current situation.

Military operation experts should participate to software engineers’ works, and support making software by translating military know-how into the sense of digital computer software.