Future Force Design

Description

Develop and design the future force through a deep understanding of the future operating environment and security risks to Canada and Canadian interests. Enhance Defence’s ability to identify, prevent, adapt and respond to a wide range of contingencies through collaborative innovation networks and advanced research.

Planning highlights

The future security environment presents a vast array of complex defence and security challenges that transcend national borders. In order to keep pace with our allies and ensure the North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD) commitments are met, as well as outpace our potential adversaries, it is imperative that the Canadian Armed Forces (CAF) prioritizes efforts to design our future force.

The Department of National Defence (DND)/CAF will support the ongoing implementation of Strong, Secure, Engaged: Canada’s Defence Policy (SSE). This will include traditional decision-making support to both the Deputy Minister and the Chief of the Defence Staff (CDS) through a progressive approach designed to build on capabilities from year-to-year. The intra-departmental alignment and validation will be done through different review processes such as the Defence Capability Board and the Independent Review Panel for Defence Acquisition. These reviews and other analysis efforts aim to verify and streamline the procurement process. These activities will be informed by the published Force Capability Plan and future joint concepts.

In response to an increasingly complex security environment, effective innovation is critical to ensure DND is successful in achieving a modern and prepared armed forces. Defence Science, Technology and Innovation (ST&I) will develop an experimentation approach that will accelerate the adoption of technological advances within DND/CAF.

DND will sustain ST&I activities to understand the risks and opportunities of Artificial Intelligence (AI) and AI-enabled systems that emulate thinking processes to perceive, detect and store memories (data).

First, research and development efforts will be aimed at reducing workloads on CAF members by experimenting with algorithms to detect and track objects of interest in still images and videos.

Second, AI research and development will continue to explore the limits of integrating these computer generated memories (data) to support operators and analysts in determining activities of interest such as smuggling and illegal fishing.

Third, AI techniques will be explored to reduce the human workload associated with the operation of autonomous vehicles in or on the land, sea, air and space. All AI-enabled systems require new levels of trust in military operations, planning and decision processes. The ST&I program will also generate advice regarding the integration of AI-enabled systems and processes into CAF operations, planning and decision-making.

With new capabilities comes the need for employees with special skill sets. The Cyber Operator military occupation has been created (in both the Regular and Reserve Force) and the focus is now on improving recruiting, individual training and career management for cyber specialists.

With the passage and coming into force of the Communications Security Establishment Act and the creation of the Canadian Centre for Cyber Security, new opportunities for collaboration within the Government of Canada are available. The CAF continues to develop a flexible, integrated cyber force in partnership with other Government of Canada stakeholders in support of Government of Canada and DND/CAF objectives.

Experimentation

The Innovation for Defence Excellence and Security^{Footnote xcv} (IDEaS) program has built DND/CAF capacity to do experimentation in a new and different way. The IDEaS program was designed to be complementary to DND internal research programs expertise towards solving defence and security challenges and will provide $1.6 billion of financial resources and human resources over a 20 year period. IDEaS fosters creativity and ingenuity in Canada by bringing together networks of experts, providing support and opportunities to innovators and by facilitating the integration and adoption of new capabilities for the CAF and public safety and security communities.

In 2020, a Call for Applications will be launched for the Sandbox statement aimed at identifying how to detect and assess corrosion behind surface coatings onboard Royal Canadian Navy (RCN) platforms and in order to reduce corrosion’s operational impact and improve the effectiveness of scheduled and unscheduled maintenance.

The IDEaS Sandbox Challenges present innovators with the opportunity to run experiments by testing and demonstrating their solutions to specific problems identified by DND/CAF. To support this experimentation, DND/CAF provides a test environment and scenario with appropriate experts and/or users in which participants can test and/or demonstrate their prototypes or ideas in a controlled setting. As part of the test environment, DND may provide some test equipment, targets, test subjects, role players, or other applicable components. The Sandbox-based experiments will also help innovators conduct course-correction and evaluate improvements that can be made to their equipment.

Departmental Result 4.1 – Defence capabilities are designed to meet future threats

• The IDEaS Program will post new challenges to address DND/CAF requirements and on technical gaps. These challenges will be shared with Canadian innovators through the various elements of the Program, including experimentation and demonstration tools (e.g. Sandbox), to invite them to propose solutions. The IDEaS initiative will help inform the future force design of DND/CAF.
• The Force Mix Structure Design initiative to realign the DND and CAF structures and ensure that it can deliver the operational concurrency as required in SSE will leverage business analytics tools to present a clear picture of the overall Force Employment, Force Generation and institutional landscapes, focussing first on the Force Employment structure, fit-for-purpose to best deliver on the operational concurrency demands placed on CAF. Force Mix Structure Design will undertake Regular Force, Primary Reserve and civilian workforce trade-space analysis and will provide decision-quality recommendations for investment and re-allocation commencing in FY 2020-21.
• The Capability Based Planning is a pan-CAF initiative that assists senior leadership in making Force Development decisions concerning future capabilities in the 15 to 20 year timeframe by providing future oriented context and analysis. FY 2020-21 marks the third year and Integration Phase of Capability Based Planning, which will incorporate the development of the Capability Based Planning Final Report and courses of action to achieve the selected future force, which will be based on gaps identified and recommended areas for the CAF to invest. This final phase produces the Force Capability Plan, which is the CDS’s direction to the CAF that enables the investment plan.
• The CAF will continue to work closely with Public Safety Canada to advance the National Cyber Security Strategy. We are working with the Canadian Centre for Cyber Security and other cyber security stakeholders to improve the CAF’s responsiveness and effectiveness to cyber threats.
• The CAF has established a comprehensive risk management framework for a Cyber Mission Assurance Program to identify, assess and mitigate cyber associated risks. The Cyber Mission Assurance Program has developed initial guidance to advance a collective response across the CAF. This program will help DND/CAF to better respond to potential threats allowing freedom of operations.
• Defence will continue to invest in partnership with allies for the reliable access of satellite communication constellations in support of DND/CAF operations across the globe.

Planned results

Departmental Result 4.2 – Defence and security challenges are addressed through innovative solutions

• The IDEaS Program will help improve Defence and Security capabilities by launching additional challenges in FY 2020-21. These will include challenges relating to greening defence activities, accelerating the development of next-generation technologies, augmenting the ability of the CAF to operate in the Arctic and austere environments, finding ways to help increase impact and effectiveness of operations and many other topics.
• The department prioritized Arctic Joint Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance for defence research and development and invested $133 million from 2015-2020 for a science and technology program to inform decisions on surveillance capabilities. Results from internal studies and contracts to Canadian industry and academia delivering innovation to address surveillance challenges in the North are expected in early FY 2020-21. Based on those results, comprehensive advice will be finalized. These science and technology contributions will inform dialogue in DND and the Government on future acquisition projects for broader North American Defence capabilities including, but not limited to, the renewal of the North Warning System capability. Working collaboratively with the United States, this information will also contribute to the first-ever bi-national Northern Approaches Surveillance Analysis of Alternatives, studying innovative technological solutions to airspace surveillance.
• Continuing the implementation of the departmental ST&I Functional Authority to leverage, align and optimize departmental ST&I resources through the departmental Science and Technology Investment Steering Committee and the provision of ST&I advice.
• DND/CAF will continue to support the department’s Data, Innovation and Analytics group by providing advanced analytics capability, including the development of predictive models for improving defence enterprise resource management and new data science tools and software that will be available enterprise-wide.
• In FY 2020-21, IDEaS will continue with its contest for Pop-up City (to develop reliable, energy efficient, integrated and scalable energy, water and waste management systems for temporary camps) as well as undertake a competitive projects challenge for ruggedized wind turbines for the Arctic to reduce the reliance on diesel fuel generated power.
• DND/CAF will continue developing concepts and designs for alternative energy options, through collaboration with other government departments and contracts with the Canadian industry.
• In FY 2020-21, DND/CAF will be leveraging defence analytics to align efforts and expenditures to deliver an initial operational capability for enterprise-wide reporting and analytics to inform ST&I decisions.
• Advance research in the future of cyber warfare to improve and strengthen both defensive and offensive capabilities.
• PROMETHEUS is the Canadian Special Operations Forces Command’s Innovation Initiative which connects Special Operations Forces challenge “owners” to communities of interest at the cutting edge of industry, academia and existing government programs. The primary line of effort is to partner with external organizations who are at the forefront of innovation.

Contested Urban Environment (CUE) 2018

Maritime Monitoring and Messaging Micro-satellite (M3MSat) will demonstrate the collection of capabilities of a space-based Automatic Identification System (AIS), receiving and locating signals transmitted by vessels, which can be combined with RADARSAT-2 Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) images, to provide improved management of marine traffic in Canadian waters.

Photo: Defence Research and Development Canada

Defence team Innovation

The evolution for Beyond2020^{Footnote xcvii} will include establishment of the Innovation Exchange, or Innovation Ex, a hub that will create a collective ecosystem for workforce and workplace modernization. Innovation Ex will also help to foster an environment where innovation, like those brought forward in the Defence team Innovation Challenge, can continue to move from ideas to action. This is just one project that shows how DND/CAF continues to look for ways to see the ideas and innovations of previous challenges continue their momentum.

Planned results

Planned budgetary financial resources

Planned human resources