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

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. The Defence and Security Science and Technology (DSST) Program has implemented an experimentation approach that will accelerate the adoption of technological advances within the Canadian Armed Forces (CAF) and the Department of National Defence (DND), such as exploiting opportunities for demonstrating mature technologies in operational field settings, and will leverage events including Operation NANOOK in the Arctic.

As Defence Research and Development Canada (DRDC) implements its new integrated program priorities, we will establish and build on partnerships and engagements with allies, industry, other government agencies and academia.

Attention will be given to:

• Explore means to engage industry in a strategic manner;
• Enhance our cooperation in the quantum, Artificial Intelligence and space domains and other emerging fields;
• Enhancing cooperation with the United States; and
• Optimizing our global science and technology (S&T) cooperation portfolio with existing and new allied nations.

Over five years, starting in FY 2021-22, significant investments will be made to support the research and development aspects of North American Aerospace Defence Command (NORAD) modernization. These investments will lay the groundwork for NORAD’s future through the exploration of cutting-edge technologies that can deter, detect and defend against evolving threats to the continent. More specifically, investments will be made in the following areas:

• Applied research on system-of-systems solutions for NORAD modernization;
• Long-range polar Over-the-Horizon Radar research;
• Research and demonstration of next generation digital high resolution space-based radar;
• Research in defence against hypersonic and missile threats; and
• Research and development for space Low-Earth Orbit architectures.

Assessments of the long-term future military operating environment help to determine the likely characteristics of future conflict, warfare, and warfighting. Future operating environment analysis accounts for both adversary and allied considerations. These assessments help to maintain a measure against which Canada must pace military capability development. In order to keep pace with our allies, outpace our potential adversaries, while ensuring that NORAD and North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) commitments are met, it is imperative that the CAF force development and design processes are optimized for the most efficient and effective use of national resources.

DND and the CAF force development and design activities will continue the implementation of Strong, Secure, Engaged: Canada's Defence Policy. These force development and design activities and processes include foresight and concept development, the Joint-level Capability Based Planning Process, intra-departmental alignment and validation through different governance bodies such as the Defence Capability Board and the Independent Review Panel for Defence Acquisition, and the publication of core documents, in particular the Capability Based Planning Final Report and the Force Capability Plan. The Strategic Experimentation Account ensures central linkages to functional and service-level experimentation, and force structure analysis contributes to the optimization of CAF personnel resources and organizational structure.

With new capabilities comes the need for employees with special skill sets. The Cyber Operator military occupation has been created and initial occupation training is at steady state. Focus will continue to be placed on the development of specialty courses and career progression to mature the operator trade. Launched last year, a study to review the feasibility of a Cyber Officer occupation will continue in FY 2022-23.

DND/CAF will also continue to utilize its human resources processes to provide a flexible and integrated cyber force of both military and public service personnel. In addition to the Cyber Operator occupation development, specific positional investments are planned for FY 2022-23 as part of the ongoing personnel build strategy that will be allocated to positional pressures in Strong, Secure, Engaged initiative 88 (Active Cyber Operations) and intelligence in support of cyber operations. Taken together, the continued refinement and maturation of the cyber forces in the aspects of attraction, recruitment, training, and career growth will assure a pan-DND/CAF sustainable capability to meet the Strong, Secure, Engaged requirements.

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 will continue to develop flexible, integrated cyber forces in partnership with other Government of Canada stakeholders and in support of Government of Canada and DND/CAF objectives.

Gender-based analysis plus (GBA Plus)

The Defence Team is developing a line of examination into integrating GBA Plus and the resulting intersectional gender perspectives into the development of military capability including the Defence Team Establishment Plan for 2023. Intersectional gender perspectives will be an important component of developing and designing the future force, given that a deep understanding of the future operating environment and security risks to Canada and Canadian interests would naturally include this type of gradation. In addition, as capabilities development is modernized in traditional domains and as new domains are added, intersectional gender perspectives will be critical to the development of effective in-spectrum and cross spectrum success. Early efforts have been in Defence policy such as the Mobilizing Insights in Defence and Security (MINDs) program, Defence innovation such as the Innovation for Defence Excellence and Security (IDEaS) program and in capability-based planning and development cycles. In FY 2022-23, IDEaS program will continue to advance equity, diversity, and inclusion in day-to-day activities, decisions and partnerships choices. The IDEaS application and evaluation processes include GBA Plus requirements and point-rated criterion.

More information on GBA Plus can be found in the “GBA Plus Supplementary Information Table” in the Supplementary Information Tables section of this report.

United Nations’ 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)

Defence has committed to contribute its expertise to progress the recently announced development of the NATO Centre of Excellence for Climate and Security in partnership with Global Affairs Canada (GAC).

Specifically in FY 2022-23, the IDEaS program will continue to work with Canadian innovators on the following challenges in support of United Nations SDGs:

• Goal 6 Water & Waste – Prototype development for the Pop-up City Contest: Launched under the IDEaS Contest element, it aims to develop solutions to integrate energy, water and waste management systems to support the CAF’s relocatable temporary camps which are deployed in national and international operations;
• Goal 7 Clean Energy – A Cold Wind Blows: Seeking Smaller, Ruggedized Wind Turbines for the Arctic. Launched under the Competitive Projects element, it seeks to address a DND need for ruggedized wind turbines for the Arctic, to reduce the reliance on diesel fuel-generated power;
• Goal 9 Infrastructure & Innovation – Green Heat: Low carbon energy generation for heating existing buildings. Launched under the Test Drive element, the objective of this challenge is to acquire, install, and operate a large-scale low-carbon energy generation and storage system for heating an existing building. This will assess the effectiveness and costs of such a technology for the modernization of and greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions reductions efforts for the entire DND infrastructure portfolio, thus contributing to the Government of Canada’s mandate that its building and facilities operations be carbon neutral by 2050; and
• Goal 13 Climate Action – Less GHG emission on the Seas: Practical Solutions to Measure and Record Energy Consumption. Launched under the Competitive Projects element, it seeks innovative solutions to accurately measure fuel and load energy consumption and GHG emission data across the Royal Canadian Navy (RCN) fleet.

Experimentation

The Innovation for Defence Excellence and Security (IDEaS) program has built DND/CAF capacity to do experimentation in a new and different way. The program was designed to complement the DND internal research programs expertise towards solving defence and security challenges and will provide $1.6 billion in financial 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.

The IDEaS Test Drive element launched “Green Heat: Low Carbon Energy Generation for Heating Existing Buildings Test Drive” to acquire, install, and operate a large-scale low-carbon energy generation and storage system for heating an existing building. The Test Drive assessed the effectiveness and costs of such a technology for the modernization of and GHG emissions reductions efforts for the entire DND infrastructure portfolio. In FY 2022-23, construction to install the winning solution will be underway at Canadian Forces Base (CFB) Kingston, Ontario, with testing to commence in FY 2023-24. This project will also support the Government of Canada’s mandate in making its building and facilities operations carbon neutral by 2050.

The IDEaS Test Drive presents innovators with the opportunity to sell their non-commercial science and technology (S&T) solution to DND/CAF in order for the department to evaluate it in a real world/operational environment. This is considered experimentation as it fulfills the obligation under the IDEaS program of allowing an innovator to propose a new S&T solution, work to develop it, demonstrate it and achieve a sale with the Government of Canada that lends not only credibility to its solution, but also a chance at commercial success. Without the IDEaS Test Drive element, DND/CAF could not experiment with new S&T solutions to see what works and what does not. It allows the department to learn and compare what it is doing now, versus what it could do better with clear results at the end.

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

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 and Security Science and Technology will develop an experimentation approach that will accelerate the adoption of technological advances within DND/CAF.

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. To this end, DND/CAF will release the Force Capability Plan (FCP), it was intentionally delayed in order to optimally sequence and incorporate ongoing work on the CAF Force structure adaptation, and is now expected to be released in FY 2022-23.

In FY 2022-23, the Anti-Tank Guided Missile Replacement project is anticipated to complete the Identification phase for endorsement by the Defence Capability Board and entry into Options Analysis. The Canadian Army (CA) will also complete the capability development work on a number of projects, and will prioritize the following for entry into the Definition phase in accordance with the capacity of the Departmental Programme and Submissions Work Plan: Night Vision Systems Modernization; Joint Fires Modernization; Land Intelligence, Surveillance, and Reconnaissance Modernization; Light Utility Vehicle; and Domestic Arctic Mobility Enhancement. The CA will also be prepared with subsequent projects should there be additional capacity to move projects through the submissions process.

The CAF’s Soldier Operational Clothing and Equipment Modernization initiative aims to deliver an integrated suite of modern operational clothing, personal protective equipment, and load carriage equipment that will use GBA Plus findings to improve performance and comfort of the soldier. The initiative is seeking an iterative, developmental approach, which relies on evergreen requirements that can be updated to leverage the latest advancements of industry. In FY 2022-23, the CA will continue to advance elements of the initiative where possible, while continuing to develop an overarching approach to enable the delivery of the fully envisioned scope of the initiative.

DND/CAF will continue to work with other government departments to address the policy and capability requirements of the National Cyber Security Strategy. Specifically, DND/CAF will continue to contribute to whole-of-government efforts related to developing or enhancing cyber-related policies and workforce/skills development.

• Under the auspices of the Cyber Mission Assurance Program (CMA), DND/CAF will continue integrating cyber-resiliency in all aspects of the department, including people, processes and technology, with the goal of ensuring mission success. For FY 2022-23, the CMA will focus on the development and implementation of enabling CMA policies, governance and risk management processes, and the enhancement of education, training and knowledge across the DND/CAF;
• DND/CAF will continue to maintain the stability, integrity, and availability of Information Management/Information Technology (IM/IT) capabilities that support critical services and operations within the department; and
• DND/CAF will work with GC partners to ensure IM/IT solutions are secure, resilient, and recoverable from incidents in a timely manner as not to impact the operations of the department.

Defence is dedicated to providing the strategic knowledge and technology advantage in order to develop and design the future force through a deep understanding of the future operating environment and security risks to Canada and Canadian interests.

Anticipation is key to designing a resilient and adaptive Future Force and to prepare DND/CAF for emerging technology. Foresight analysis and risk assessment ensure early detection of new science and technology developments and highlight emerging requirements for the future Force. The DND/CAF Quantum S&T Strategy Implementation Plan will be published in FY 2022-23. Work to prepare DND/CAF for this emerging technology will be informed by this plan as well as continued collaboration with other government departments, allies, and partners.

Cyber-related IDEaS challenges will continue with contracts awarded in FY 2022-23. Key challenges include:

• Understanding Cyber Intent;
• How to Detect and Respond to Hostile Information Activities;
• Staying Four Steps Ahead: Understanding and predicting the behaviour of adversaries;
• Remaining Vigilant: Identifying cyber dependencies, vulnerabilities and threats;
• Wireless is Where it’s at: Secure and seamless wireless network onboard ships;
• We Sea You: Digital tracking and accounting on navy vessels; and
• 5G and Beyond Innovation Network.

The department will continue to invest in Artificial Intelligence advances by:

• Reaching out to academia and industry to explore applications of interest for DND/CAF; and
• Seeking cooperation with Allies for research, development and experimentation.

Planned results

Departmental Results	Departmental Result Indicators	Target	Date to achieve target	2018–19 Actual results	2019–20 Actual results	2020–21 Actual results
4.1 Defence capabilities are designed to meet future threats	Extent to which the Future Security Environment assessment remains valid	At least 2 on a 3 point rating scale*	31 March 2023	2	2	2
	Degree to which future security assessments and capability deductions remain coherent with those of our allies and partners	At least 2 on a 3 point rating scale**	31 March 2023	2	2	2
	Degree to which future capabilities required to ensure an operational advantage over defence and security threats have been accounted for in defence plans	At least 2 on a 3 point rating scale***	31 March 2023	2	2	2

Notes:

* During the Future Security Environment (FSE) validity period of four years, the FSE document will be assessed annually through internal Canadian Armed Forces foresight and allied collaboration analysis activities. Should these analysis activities identify significant issues, the Chief of Force Development will indicate the intent to produce an updated FSE with anticipated milestones.

** During the FSE validity period of four years, the Force Capability Plan and Investment Plan are reviewed annually through internal Canadian Armed Forces and allied collaboration analysis activities. Should these analysis activities identify significant issues, the Chief of Force Development will indicate the intent to produce updated documents with anticipated milestones.

*** During the FSE validity period of four years, the Force Capability Plan, Investment Plan and Force Development scenario sets are assessed annually through internal Canadian Armed Forces analysis activities. If significant issues are identified, the Chief of Force Development will indicate the intent to produce updated documents with anticipated milestones.

Financial, human resources and performance information for the Department of National Defence and the Canadian Armed Forces’ Program Inventory is available in the GC InfoBase.

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

In FY 2022-23, the IDEaS program will continue to cultivate its program of transforming concepts, options and prototypes into DND/CAF capabilities. Utilizing investments through the IDEaS program, DRDC is spawning an innovation ecosystem that will create new strategic opportunities for DND/CAF. The IDEaS Sandbox program element gives Innovators the opportunity to demonstrate their solutions in the presence of national defence experts/users and receive observational feedback. The Test Drive element gives Innovators the opportunity to have their advanced solutions tested in a real-world environment. The program will also continue to support important investments in the fight against COVID-19, specifically related to new solutions for personal protective equipment, sanitization, disease-tracking technology, fast tests and diagnostics.

NORAD modernization will be supported by investments in research and development that will leverage Canadian industrial and academic innovation from bridging deep science to systems to capabilities.

Defence S&T will be applied to develop and provide sustainable energy solutions for Arctic infrastructure assets and operations, thereby reducing fossil fuel dependence while maintaining or improving operational capability. Work on modular systems and advanced micro grids towards significantly reducing Arctic emissions will be enablers for northern facilities, more agile basing, and remote deployed sensor networks.

Defence continues to provide S&T leadership to public safety and security communities by fostering domestic and international partnerships with the United States, United Kingdom and the 5 Research and Development, a Five Eyes forum that shares, collaborates and coordinates public safety and security research and development, and managing the CSSP a joint venture or undertaking with Public Safety Canada. In FY 2022-23, the CSSP will invest up to $17 million in new projects selected from a competitive call for proposals, to enhance resiliency in a post-pandemic world. 

Defence will promote experimentation with a view to data and business transformation through periodic challenges such as DND team participation in the Canada School of Public Service Digital Accelerator program. Defence will leverage creative efforts as co-Chair the Innovation Exchange Network with an outcome of three annual Exchanges and several Innovation Speaker Series and collect, promote and communicate stories of innovation and public service renewal from across the department.

Planned results

Departmental Results	Departmental Result Indicators	Target	Date to achieve target	2018–19 Actual results	2019–20 Actual results	2020–21 Actual results
4.2 Defence and security challenges are addressed through innovative solutions	% of initiatives and projects that are supported by Defence Science and Technology	At least 90%	31 March 2023	30%	30%	46.09%*
	% of Innovation for Defence Excellence and Security (IDEaS) projects that resulted in useful advice, adoption, integration or eventual procurement of a new defence and security capability	At least 20%	31 March 2023	Results not available New indicator as of 2018–19	5.5%	77.8%**

Notes:

* With the Strong, Secure, Engaged data review, an increase in initiatives supported by Defence Science and Technology were identified. The target will be revised through the next Departmental Results Framework review.

** In FY 2019-20, projects were still in their first phase of work or had just transitioned to a second phase of funding (Component 1b). Therefore, most solutions were still in the development stage. In FY 2020-21, projects began completing the second phase of funding (Component 1b), and their broader solutions were delivered to DND/CAF for consideration. Therefore, DND/CAF began to benefit from completed Component 1b projects.

Financial, human resources and performance information for the Department of National Defence and the Canadian Armed Forces’ Program Inventory is available in the GC InfoBase.

Planned budgetary spending for Future Force Design

2022-23 budgetary spending (as indicated in Main Estimates)	2022-23 planned spending	2023-24 planned spending	2024-25 planned spending
820,654,966	820,654,966	818,760,419	821,095,511

Financial, human resources and performance information for the Department of National Defence and the Canadian Armed Forces’ Program Inventory is available in the GC InfoBase.

Planned human resources for Future Force Design

2022–23 planned full-time equivalents	2023–24 planned full-time equivalents	2024–25 planned full-time equivalents
1,914	1,887	1,885

Financial, human resources and performance information for the Department of National Defence and the Canadian Armed Forces’ Program Inventory is available in the GC InfoBase.

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