Defence`s Feeds

How do new and constantly evolving Big Data methodologies and techniques impact defence Modelling and Simulation and how may their increasing potential be best used? To shed light on these and other questions related to Big Data in defence, the European Defence Agency (EDA) launched the ‘Big Data in Defence Modelling and Simulation’  (BIDADEMS) study whose findings are now available and has led to a new project researching new methodologies (MODSIMMET).  

While Big Data is already extensively used in the civil domain, for instance helping companies to improve decision-making based on customer spending (big) data, its potential benefits for the defence sector still needs to be explored and investigated. 

Against this backdrop in September 2016, the EDA initiated the BIDADEMS study aimed at better understanding Big Data methodologies, techniques and their potential applications in the defence domain, in particular for modelling and simulation (M&S) purposes. In the M&S domain, Big Data could potentially help to provide simplified military simulation designs, generate more realistic simulation scenarios and environments, improve the exploitation of simulation results or provide new opportunities for M&S support to military test and evaluation (T&E) activities.
 

Recommendations

The study identified some emerging Big Data technologies with high potential for defence M&S (such as cloud computing, non-relational databases, data analytics or visual analytics) and formulated recommendations for the EDA and Member States’ future work in this domain, notably:

1. Future M&S applications should be designed with Cloud Computing in mind, setting up cloud based environments to provide “sandbox” test areas to analyse new data sets.

2. Further investigation into the application of Data and Visual Analytics techniques and to data analytics to M&S models focussing on: 
a) Models and data available through predictive analytics as inputs for M&S models; 
b) Current data mining techniques and their applicability to M&S output data.

3. Given the high innovation rate of these techniques it seems to be necessary to both inform and educate analysts on new data analytics techniques and to provide M&S developers with Big Data considerations when developing future models. 
 

Outcome

The outcome of the BIDADEMS project supported EDA’s contribution to the 2nd Annual European GeoInformation Symposium & Exhibition on Big Data and the Global Big Data Defence 2017 Summit, both held in Berlin during June 2017. Also the project has motivated the EDA’s ‘Simulation’ Capability Technology Group (CapTech) to initiate a new study, MODSIMMET, which will analyse how to approach very complex scenarios like hybrid warfare with different methodologies like Data farming and War gaming supported by Big Data and Artificial Intelligence. 

The collection, storage, analysis and management of a huge amount of real and simulated data is inevitable and will increase in the future. It will be used to take advantage of existing and future related technologies. The use of Big Data tools and methodologies is likely to be a recurrent issue in the Agency where growing attention is being devoted to these innovative technologies.  
 

More information:

• EDA Cap Tech Simulation
• EDA Cap Tech Information

 

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From 11-15 December 2017, ICAO organised two air navigation events bringing together global partners from the aviation industry, air navigation service providers and States. 

The first event, Second Global Air Navigation Industry Symposium (GANIS/2), provided a platform for global and regional industry partners to share their latest developments, thus identifying commonalities/differences between the systems to ensure interoperability and facilitating the harmonisation of air navigation systems. While the second event, the First Safety and Air Navigation Implementation Symposium (SANIS/1), showcased the Safety and Air Navigation implementation strategies with ICAO’s Global Aviation Safety Plan (GASP) and Global Air Navigation Plan (GANP) as complimentary global plans and thereby drivers for performance improvements and promoted collaboration amongst all stakeholders.

The Single European Sky (SES) partners (the European Commission, Eurocontrol through the European Network Manager, European Aviation Safety Agency, European Defence Agency and EUROCAE as the European leader on industry standards in aviation, as well as the SESAR Joint Undertaking (SESAR JU) and the SESAR Deployment Manager (SESAR DM)) joined forces at the event with interventions in the conference focusing on key areas of SES/SESAR relevant to the ICAO vision, as well as a joint SES/SESAR exhibition stand which showcased how Europe is working together in a harmonised way to modernise our European Skies. 

A number of SES representatives and SESAR members participated in the conference sessions and discussions, promoting the central role of SESAR and EU industry in driving forward ATM modernisation in the context of the EU aviation strategy. Christophe Vivier, Head of the European Defence Agency’s SES/SESAR Unit, participated in different sessions on civil-military cooperation, including on RPAS integration and interoperability. The event also served as a platform to emphasise the need for global harmonisation and interoperability and helped to demonstrate the synergies of the European ATM Master Plan with the Global Air Navigation Plan (GANP).
 

More information:

• Read more about these events and access the full agenda on the GANIS SANIS 2017 event page
   

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The victory over the so-called Islamic State’s territorial rule presents a chance for the Government of Iraq to rebuild its state institutions and re-assert its authority. In this transition, will the Iraqi leadership move past cycles of failure and address the structural problems that perpetuate state weakness and facilitate the emergence of groups like ISIS? To answer this question, this paper analyses the challenges of short-term stabilisation programming with longer-term governance reform at the local and national levels. It argues that, without establishing representative and responsive state institutions, the processes of reconciliation and integration will be unsuccessful. To conclude, this paper offers policy recommendations on how the EU can support the upcoming state-rebuilding process.
Source : © European Union, 2017 - EP

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Source : © European Union, 2017 - EP

A €7.1 million R&T and skill-related project run by a large (‘Prime’) European defence company and designed to improve cyber defence training has been awarded EU co-funding under the European Structural and Investment Funds (ESIF). The EDA actively supported the project application for ESIF funding.  

The project, to be implemented by a LEONARDO-led consortium made up of four other companies as well as a university, aims at creating an integrated and multifunctional modeling and simulation system to train military staff and decision-makers under a number of cyber-related operative scenarios. The system will be built in a way that allows for flexible and customized usage in a multitude of domains including pre-deployment planning, testing of new equipment and protocols, training of operators or  support to decision-making in operations. 

This successful pilot case, widely and explicitly referring to military applications, confirms once again that defence projects can access ESIF co-funding. 
Initially brought forward by the Italian Ministry of Defence, the project will be closely coordinated with similar NATO activities, especially the work done in NATO’s Modelling and Simulation Group (NMSG) and related working groups.

More information: 

• Contact EDA
• ESIF success stories in defence
• EDA’s summary table on EU funding opportunities for defence-related stakeholders
• EDA’s “ESIF web-platform”
• EDA’s work supporting access to EU funding

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Situational awareness is a prerequisite for good decision-making in any CSDP mission or operation. In order to provide operation commanders with optimal capabilities in this domain, EDA Member States in 2014 launched GISMO, the ‘Geospatial Information to Support decision Making in Operations’ project.  Since then and working in partnership with the EU Satellite Centre (EU SatCen), GISMO has produced a first operational output in the form of ‘GeohuB’, a software application which allows for the safe and reliable sharing of geospatial information (GI) within a mission’s operational headquarter. After a successful field trial last February, GeohuB was successfully deployed to the Italian Operation Headquarters, Rome, in support of EU Naval Force Mediterranean (EUNAVFOR MED). 

In practical terms, this means that mission/operation participants with access to the classified mission network of EUNAVFOR MED’s operational headquarters in Rome can now upload, share and manage geospatial data related to the operation. GeohuB is accessible through a normal web browser (Explorer, Chrome, Firefox, etc.) with a user-friendly interface which makes it intuitive for non-specialists.  “If we imagine the full amount of geospatial information available to a CSDP operation as a vast image library, the GeohuB App can be compared to Instagram: an easy and user-friendly way to accessing specific, selected information clips. As with Instagram, GeohuB allows user-generated content to be uploaded and shared at anytime”,  Alessandro Cignoni, Project Officer at the EDA’s Information Superiority Unit, explained. 

GeohuB will be further improved in the coming months with the aim of bringing the App to ‘full operating capability’ by the first quarter 2019. Close cooperation between the EDA, the EU SatCen and the EU Military Staff (EUMS), as well as with the operational users in the EUNAVFOR MED headquarters in Rome will be crucial to make it a success. 

In the meantime, the application’s reputation is already growing: GeohuB is now also used in the EU Monitoring Mission in Georgia (EUMM Georgia) while the Portuguese Armed Forces introduced it on a national level. Furthermore, the EUMS initiated a specific project to explore the potential usage of the GeohuB within the European External Action Service (EEAS).

Background

Commanders of CSDP missions and operations constantly need fast, reliable and updated geospatial information covering land, sea, airspace and cyber. Geospatial information is earth-related factual data referenced by geographic position and arranged in a coherent structure. Such data include topographic, aeronautical, hydrographic or planning information but also mapping, geo-referenced imagery, geophysical products, etc. available in either analogue or digital format. Most pieces of information have a location, and knowing and understanding these locations can be decisive in a mission commanders’ decision-making. Ever improving geospatial information has thus the potential to revolutionise the decision-making process within military missions and operations.  
 

More information: 

• GeohuB: Successful Training and Operational Field Trial concluded at EUNAVFOR MED Operation SOPHIA HQ
• EDA and EU Satellite Centre (SATCEN) formalize cooperation with exchange of letters

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