Network Based Defence Logic -From an Innovation Point of View-
Abstract
The focus on a network based defence (NBD) is one of the most fundamental changes in the Swedish armed forces since the days of Carolus XII in the early eighteenth century. The transformation will affect not only the military structure but also defence industry, research agencies as well as the work of the Ministry of Defence as a whole. With a network centric approach it will in future be possible to act in new environments and places with new partners and with new behaviours. The reasoning supporting NBD is built on flexibility and increased degrees of freedom. One goal is to use current and future resources and technologies in new ways and combinations in order to gain greater operational effects and advantages at a lower total cost than before. The ability to innovate will be the key success factor in the introduction of network based defence. As there will always be scarce resources available for defence, it is more important than ever to optimise the outcomes and effects. The prerequisite for the new logic is multi finality, i.e. there are several opportunities and possible paths to achieve goals, which is also forms the basis for flexibility. A fruitful way to study the change of military structure is to use a theoretical framework based on innovation and multi finality. The questions to be addressed are: what is really new with NBD in relation to earlier concepts and what would a method built on network centric logic look like? This paper first discusses the relationship between innovation and the network centric logic and then goes on to discuss an analytical approach built on combinatorial methods with value chains which is used to explain the idea of multi finality. In conclusion, different aspects of the combinatorial method are discussed. The overall purpose of using such an approach is to transfer knowledge and experience from the research arena into the military arena in order to exploit the full potential of future defence systems.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Jun 01, 2005
- Accession Number
- ADA460924
Entities
People
- Roland Heickero
Organizations
- Swedish Defence Research Agency