When the first drones were deployed, US forces had to provide extra personnel for evaluation. The new sensors meant more work, not less. When the new directive “Need to Share” was coined in Afghanistan by the U.S. forces and the Afghanistan Mission Network (AMN) was very quickly made available for this purpose, many nations still lacked technical and legal basis to switch between national restricted and AMN.
Since the procurement of chat clients took too long and existing military radios could not share the necessary details at the same speed, soldiers in Afghanistan used WhatsApp for military use. And when someone took a closer look at the maps of fitness portal Strava, they were able to get the exact geodata of military bases based on running laps.
All this shows that the armed forces are not at the forefront of digitalisation. Neither do military procurement methods allow for the necessary speed, nor do armed forces order sufficient quantities to be really interesting for big companies. Development is driven by the civilian market.
Nevertheless, there are approaches so that armed forces can take advantage of latest trends and developments. At Berlin Security Conference the panel “Digitalisation” will deal with these framework conditions. What strategic, organisational and procurement adjustments are necessary in order to make the best possible use of opportunities offered by digitalisation in the armed forces?
With this variety of topics, upcoming Berlin Security Conference offers the ideal platform to learn about the future of armed forces, discuss developments and exchange best practice examples. And until August, registration is still possible at the cheaper Early Bird price.
Dorothee Frank, Head of editorial team