Recommendation 21

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