Source · Select Committees · Public Accounts Committee
Recommendation 21
21
Accepted
The Department noted that one important challenge in the war in Ukraine is that not...
Conclusion
The Department noted that one important challenge in the war in Ukraine is that not all of the various donated western equipment systems can be easily connected or exchange data. The Department told us that integrating different systems in different locations, quickly enough to keep up with the pace of technological innovation, is a challenge that all militaries now face.66 The Department also has to consider that adversaries may be looking to undermine its security or effectiveness, and that using digital technology reliably in a hostile environment brings its own challenges. For example, ships at sea may be regularly disconnected from support systems, delaying updates.67 The Department itself increasingly aims to join up military operations across land, air, sea, space and cyber, as well as work more closely with the rest of government, academia, industry and international partners.68 To do this, the Department describes in its digital strategy how it needs to share data through digital systems that connect to one another securely and easily.69
Government response summary AI-generated
The government agrees with the conclusion, stating it is accelerating digital transformation through the existing DX4D programme and establishing an Integrated Design Authority to break down silos. Progress on delivering the Digital Backbone by 2025 is being tracked via a Strategy Delivery Plan.
Summary of the government's response below — read the verbatim text to verify.
Government Response
Accepted
HM Government · verbatim extract
Accepted
6.1 The government agrees with the Committee’s recommendation. Target implementation date: April 2023 6.2 Through the Digital Exploitation for Defence (DX4D) programme, the department is accelerating digital transformation across Defence. This is a key component in progressively shifting more of the balance onto exploitation, accompanied by a maturation of the digital function. Establishment of the Integrated Design Authority in Strategic Command will further help to break down and remove siloes whilst driving a consistent approach across Defence. 6.3 Delivering the Digital Backbone by 2025 is key to this and progress is being tracked and measured through the Strategy Delivery Plan, with dedicated resource in place to measure specific key performance indicators.
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