Date
8 September 2021
Category
AI, Concurrent Design, Security, Space, Whitepapers and reports
No commentsRHEA Group special report
Improving agility in defence capability innovation and acquisition of disruptive technologies in the space and cyber domains through process improvement and concurrent design
About this whitepaper
Two core challenges impact military capability acquisition across environments that involve disruptive technologies, particularly in the emerging operational domains of space and cyber. Traditional acquisition approaches are too slow and rigid to keep pace with innovation and obsolescence cycles, and most procurement projects are too large and complex, introducing unnecessary risks for business and government.
Potential solutions to these issues fall within two areas. The first involves the revision of traditional acquisition models and processes supporting acquisition. The second involves the employment of technology in the form of concurrent design, currently employed within the European Space Agency (ESA) and the Netherlands Defence Materiel Organisation to support revised system engineering and design methodologies to address complex ‘system of systems’ technologies that comprise increasingly disruptive technologies.
This paper:
- highlights some key challenges facing defence regarding the acquisition of cyber and space capabilities impacted by disruptive technologies
- offers recommendations for improving acquisition and development processes
- highlights a specific capability fielded by RHEA in support of ESA and the Netherlands Defence Materiel Organisation called ‘concurrent design’.
