The Department of Defence first whitepaper in 10 years outlines several ICT initiatives, including a new network and cyber warfare capabilities
The Federal Government’s first defence whitepaper in 10 years has flagged an increasingly important role for ICT in Australia’s armed forces to 2030.
The 143-page document, released at the weekend, reaffirmed the importance of the country’s close relationship with the US while noting potential disagreements that could develop with the rise of China and the need for a stable and democratic Indonesia.
It also highlighted the risks posed by the global economic downturn, Islamic fundamentalism, climate change, the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction, and other regional hot spots like East Timor.
“The Government has decided that Defence should focus on developing a force that meets the primary obligation to deter and defeat attacks on Australia,” the paper stated.
Notably for ICT, a focus has been placed on: Cyber warfare; intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance (ISR) capabilities; and networked systems, with improved capabilities for linking sensors, weapons systems and commanders to their personnel. This is aimed at ensuring effective cooperation, battlespace awareness and information superiority over adversaries.
“The Government has confirmed that Defence is to build a networked ADF [Australian Defence Force], and that it will achieve this by way of progressively delivering networked maritime, land, air and ISR domains. The Government has decided that Defence is to have in place the ICT infrastructure, information tools, command support, battlespace management systems and joint training programs necessary to provide a reliable battlespace network across the entire ADF,” the paper stated. This approach is to be accompanied by improved ISR linkages with the US Pacific Command agreed upon in bilateral ministerial consultations in April.
Although not revealing much detail due to its highly classified status, the whitepaper outlined a significant focus on cyber warfare.
“Our national security could potentially be compromised by cyberattacks on our defence, wider governmental, commercial or infrastructure-related information networks. The potential impacts of such attacks have grown with Defence’s increasing reliance on networked operations. Therefore, we must focus on developing capabilities that allow us to gain an edge in the cyberspace domain, and protect ourselves,” the paper stated.
A Cyber Security Operations Centre that coordinates responses to cyber threats will be established within the Defence Signals Directorate (DSD) and staffed by Defence force and Defence Science and Technology Organisation (DSTO) personnel.
Additionally, the Government will establish priority industry capabilities (PIC) – industries that confer essential strategic capabilities to the nation’s defence forces. As part of this, the Government will monitor specific industries to ensure they are “healthy and available” with decisions on whether to intervene in the markets taken by the National Security Committee of Cabinet.
The Government will also establish Centres of Excellence to address any identified capability and capacity shortfalls in PIC categories.
“These centres will have a number of roles including managing skill enhancement programs, targeting research and development activities, and exploiting commercialisation and export opportunities,” it stated in the whitepaper.
The Government will not announce which capabilities are likely to attract PIC support, but the paper mentioned several ICT skills, including systems networking, as integral to the overall defence approach.
There was no financial breakdown outlining how much funding would be given to these ICT initiatives, however, the building of an integrated Defence network would incur considerable cost to the tax payer while giving the IT industry significant stimulus if the Government’s recently-announced $43 billion national broadband network (NBN) is any guide.
However, with Defence ICT spending dominated by two companies, IBM and Telstra, it is doubtful smaller local players will get a look in. Between IBM and Telstra, they secured three contracts worth $437 million – two for Telstra and one for IBM – with the Department of Defence in the first quarter of the financial year according to analyst group, Intermedium.
The whitepaper is titled Defending Australia in the Asia-Pacific Century; Force 2030 and is available here.
