Exclusive Content

The operational need for investment into frontline renewables.

The military is in the business of winning war, not saving energy – this is the somewhat jaded sentiment that has often been voiced by fuel-focused defence personnel. Going ‘green’ was more likely to refer to the colour of their fatigues rather than the military’s concern for their carbon footprint...[Read on]

Preserving the environment during military operations can improve stabilisation and foster lasting security, a key condition for sustainable development. NATO's policy states that all member nations armed forces must respect environmental policies and principles under all conditions but they are only fully liable if they implement it into their own national law.

We had the exclusive opprtunity to meet Dr. Susanne Michaelis, Officer at the Emerging Security Challenges Division at NATO and speaker at the 2018 Military Engineering conference, to discuss the importance and challenges associated with environmental protection and security and NATO's role in greening defence around the world.

At the Combat Support Week 2019, Lieutenant Colonel Martin Hornhues, Deputy Director Joint Logistic Support Group, Coordination and Training Centre (JCTC), Bundeswehr Logistics School presented: 'Supporting the Agile Force in Theatre'.

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Themes covered in the presentation:

• NATO Principles and Policies for Logistics
• Possible theatres
• Logistic System to operations
• Joint Logistics Support Network
• Understanding of SCM
• Multinational Logistics – Command and Control
• JLSG structure
• Possible JLSG Task Organisation
• JLSG units – TRIDENT JUNCTURE 2018
• Winning Concept 
• LESSONS IDENTIFIED TRIDENT JUNCTURE 2018
• Challenge: Peer Opponent

The re-orientation of the British Army towards multi-domain operations and potential hybrid warfare shifts its focus towards enabling efficient interoperability with its strategic partners, highlighted among others by the Joint German-British M3 wide-wet gap crossing capability. The Army is looking to new, innovative technologies to enhance its readiness and support force mobility for future operations.

In this exclusive interview, Colonel Simon Bradley, Assistant Head Manoeuvre Support, Ground Manoeuvre Capability, British Army and speaker at this year's Combat Support Week, shares insight on the Future Manoeuvre Support Plan. He discusses the main capability development priorities to enhance military engineering and force mobility capabilities; the main goals of the Future Manoeuvre Support plan; and how the Army’s future military engineering capabilities will interact with the UK’s allies and partners.

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Benefits of reading the interview:

• Understand the objectives of the British Army on military engineering and force mobility from Colonel Bradley, who will attend Combat Support Week 2020
• Learn more about the innovating technologies that the Army is looking to implement to support force mobility
• Enhance your interoperability with the UK by understanding how future military engineering capabilities will interact with you

In this interview, Colonel Bradley answers the following questions:

• What are the main priorities of the British Army when it comes to enhancing its military engineering capabilities and overall Force Mobility?
• What are the main goals of the British Army’s Future Manoeuvre Support plan? What are means by which this can help the UK MOD to achieve its strategy?
• How does the Future Manoeuvre Support plan fit with improving the British Army’s military engineering capabilities in terms of doctrine, equipment and procurement over the coming years?
• Could you tell us your vision of the British Army’s military engineering capabilities over the next 5-10 years and how it will be able to interact with its Allies and partners internationally?

At Combat Support Week 2020, Colonel Bradley will discuss the future development of manoeuvre support capability in the British Army. To see who will join him on the speaker panel, you can download the agenda here.

The term Accelerated Warfare, mentioned in the Army’s Contribution to Defence Strategy document recently released by the Australian Army, defines the changes to the character of warfare at a rate faster than many of our processes and structures were designed for. This highlights the need for the Army to conduct and sustain land combat operations across a spectrum of conflict, and ensuring materiel is delivered where and when it is needed is vital. In order to achieve this, the Australian Army is turning its focus towards leveraging new technologies to build a Recognised Logistic Picture. 

Ahead of the Combat Support Week conference, Defence iQ gained insight from a key speaker, Brigadier Todd Ashurst, Director General, Logistics, Australian Army. He discussed his objectives for streamlining the Army’s military logistics supply chain and the technologies would like to integrate within it, his views on the applications of autonomy, preparedness as the biggest challenge to logisticians and how he sees industry-military collaboration to help the Army meet its requirements.

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Key benefits of downloading the interview:

• Gain insight into the objectives of the Australian Army regarding the defence logistics enterprise, from Brigadier Ashurst who will attend Combat Support Week 
• Understand how the Australian Army is looking to leverage new technologies and integrate them in its defence supply chain, from Brigadier Ashurst who will attend Combat Support Week 
• Learn more about how you can help meet the Australian Army’s requirements by meeting Brigadier Ashurst at Combat Support Week 

In this interview, Brigadier Ashurst answers the following questions:

• Could you please define your objectives for streamlining the Australian Army’s military logistics supply chain? What is driving progress in order to achieve this?
• Which technologies is the Australian Army looking to integrate into its military logistics supply chain in order to drive efficiency and visibility over its assets?
• Automation is expected to entirely re-shape the way modern militaries operate. Where do you see the most valuable applications of automation, now and within the next five years? 
• What do you think will be the greatest challenge for logisticians to rapidly project capability to future operating environments?
• Could you share with us how you would like military-industry collaboration to change in order to meet the Army requirements for?

At Combat Support Week 2020, Brigadier Ashurst will discuss synchronising the Australian Army’s global logistics supply chain. To download the full agenda of the conference and see who will join him on the speaker panel, please click here. 

The UK MOD is integrating new technologies into its structure to enhance its defence supply chain’s processes, in order to prepare for the challenges posed by multi-domain operations against a peer adversary.

Ahead of Combat Support Week 2020, Defence iQ compiled this report on new technologies in the UK Future Support Force, featuring exclusive insight from Colonel Eddie Corrigan, Defence Logistics Concept and Force Development Assistant Head, UK Ministry of Defence.

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Key benefits of downloading this report: 

• Improve supply chain management and demand forecasting by learning how to integrate new technologies and attain greater asset visibility from representatives of the UK MOD who will attend Combat Support Week 
• Learn more about the involvement of the UK MOD in fostering a relationship between industry and the military to enhance processes within UK defence logistics
• Gain insider insight into the scope, challenges and key technologies vital to the UK Future Support Force 

This report is divided in two parts:

• Part 1 – The need for an AI revolution in defence logistics, an interview with Colonel Eddie Corrigan

In this interview, he discusses the current use of new technologies such as AI and Big Data in the UK defence supply chain management, the consequences of failing to leverage them in case of global deployments, and the current involvement of the government in fostering the relationship between the military and industry to enhance existing processes.

• Part 2 – A personal perspective on the UK Future Support Force (2030-35+), Colonel Eddie Corrigan’s presentation from Combat Support Week 2019

The presentation covers the Defence Support Network Transformation, the key challenges of  the future operating environment, and the key concepts and technologies of the Future Support Force.

Do you want to learn more on new technologies in the UK MOD to enhance the processes of the defence supply chain? At Combat Support Week next February, Air Vice Marshal Richard Hill CBE, Director Defence Support Transformation, UK Ministry of Defence will speak on accelerating support innovation across UK MOD. To download the full agenda of the conference, please click here. 

The reorientation of Land Power doctrine towards operations against a peer or near peer adversary has put the focus on the modernisation of land forces to meet the challenge of multi-domain operations. 

The NATO Military Engineer Centre of Excellence helps to lead the way to enable its member and partner nations to overcome mobility and counter-mobility challenges. Ahead of Combat Support Week 2020, Defence IQ gained exclusive insight from Lieutenant Colonel Sean Matten, Deputy Director of the organisation and one of the key speakers of the conference. He discusses in this interview the establishment of NATO level capability requirements, the role of innovation in providing greater mobility without increasing capability, the top innovative military engineering solutions that have the most potential and the role of industry in delivering innovation to military engineers.

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Key benefits of downloading the interview:

• Learn more about the different processes through leading up to the establishment of NATO level capability requirements
• Understand the role of innovation in any military engineering procurement
• See which innovative solutions have the most potential for military engineers

In this interview, Lieutenant Colonel Matten answers the following questions:

• Could you talk us through the process of establishing Military Engineering capability requirements for NATO members in order to enhance mobility and interoperability?
• How does innovation fit into the establishment of these requirements, is there a push from nations to integrate cutting edge technologies within existing solutions? If not, then what is driving new requirements in this area?
• As a requirement expert, what would you say are the top innovative solutions that should be implemented by Military Engineers? For each of those, could you let us know their main advantages and challenges?
• What is your view on industry’s role in offering solutions to Military Engineers? How would you rate current involvement? What role do SMEs and start-ups have to play?

Lieutenant Colonel Matten will discuss NATO capability requirements for military engineering at Combat Support Week 2020. To view who will join him on the senior speaker panel, you can view the agenda here. 

The return to conventional warfighting role has highlighted the need for NATO to enhance its military engineering and logistics capabilities to ensure troops mobility on all levels, particularly crucial in case of a return to state-on-state conflict. This will be the core focus of the Operational Planning Exercise hosted General Sir Peter Wall, Chief of the General Staff, British Army (2010-2014) at this year’s Combat Support Week conference. 

Over the past 7 years, Combat Support Week (Formerly Military Engineering and Defence Logistics) has been the annual host for both end users and industry to meet and discuss future investments and strategy.  

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In this exclusive interview, Colonel Eddie Corrigan, Defence Logistics Concept and Force Development Assistant Head, UK Ministry of Defence and speaker at Combat Support Week 2019 shares exclusive insights on the potential new technologies hold for the defence support network to increase troops' readiness and efficiency through better data management and inventory oversight at an overall lower cost. In this Q&A, we answer the following questions:

• What are the current processes of the UK defence supply chain management? 
• What are the consequences of failing to manage and deploy assets to support global deployments?
• How is the UK military incorporating AI and Big Data solutions into its defence supply chain to support international operations?
• What are the potential benefits of using AI and Big Data solutions in defence supply chains?
• How would you rate the current awareness of the military logisticians on the AI and Big Data solutions the industry is currently offering? 
• How involved is the UK MoD in fostering a relationship between industry and the military to enhance processes within UK defence logistics?

This Q&A provides exclusive insight from Brigadier General Matt Bazeley, Commandant of the Royal School of Military Engineering (RSME), British Army and speaker at Combat Support Week 2019 on the importance of bridging to current and future operations.

He discusses the impact of changing doctrine on combat engineer training, the importance of bridging for operations and ways in which industry can help make bridge-laying as a key enabler of force mobility.