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– resulting in outcomes-based
software growth of over 10 per
cent.
For equipment procurement and support, in
recent years, the military has ascended the [ COLUMN ]
so-called ‘transformational staircase’ out of the
scenario of simply buying and maintaining their
own assets and equipment. The risk and avail-
Essential ability linked with supporting an asset through its
military lifecycle has increasingly involved indus-
try assistance from OEMs or military in-service
support providers. Now, performance-based
logistics (PBL) is the widely accepted model for
Data Thread the procurement and support of military equip-
ment. PBL strategies work effectively when
applied to a specific asset or components, but
these service-based agreements can even be
taken a step further—what is deemed at IFS as
“Total Asset Readiness®” in relation to force-
THE THREE DIGITAL DATA THREAD wide asset mobilisation and visibility.
DEVELOPMENTS IN 2022 THAT WILL TRANSFORM This move towards a service-based approach
DEFENCE LOGISTICS ACROSS LAND, AIR AND for military asset support is underlined by recent
SEA research from Boston Consulting Group (BCG)
who examined the cross-industry shifts towards
delivering outcomes and, pinpointed servitisa-
Matt Medley, Industry Director, Defence tion as “the focus of creating and capturing
Manufacturing, IFS. value shifts from one-time sales to long-term
partnerships.” It’s therefore no surprise that
BCG report sees the defence sector prioritising
Military organisations and their in-service support partners have the adoption of enterprise asset management
made big strides towards using software to manage mission-crit- (EAM) solutions in the next three years.
ical weapon systems and IT infrastructures, but data collection,
analysis and execution are not advancing at the same pace. It’s this One Step Closer to Ensuring Total
data backbone which permeates three key predictions for defence Asset Readiness
logistics and support in 2022. The essential data thread beneath My prediction is for the ‘next evolution’ of asset
more servitised equipment support, the rise of the digital shipyard support to be focused on installing a constant
and the growing use of unmanned systems in military operations. and transparent framework across the entirety
of a military force, connecting the military oper-
It has been well-documented that military operators and defence ator, OEM and in-service support providers. All
in-service support providers have modernised their logistics and separate reporting mechanisms and software
supply chain processes, accelerated by the pandemic, more con- systems can be consolidated within a single,
nected assets entering operations and the maturity of enabling all-encompassing solution, giving commanders
technologies including augmented/virtual reality, digital twins, 3D planning operations a real-time image of each
printing, AI, among others. But there is still a digital disconnect at asset at their immediate disposal—tracking
play despite this progress. While tech-enabled workflows, assets and asset readiness within the context of the mis-
processes have grown rapidly, supporting IT infrastructure has not. sion they need to complete.
The U.S Government Accountability Office highlighted this in a recent
report that cited that the DOD’s data collection and IT developments You can see this already in progress with the
were not matching the speed of technological change with mission U.S. Navy’s Naval Operational Business Logistics
critical weapon systems.
Enterprise (NOBLE) project. The programme will
eliminate over 700 database/application servers
As the role of IT infrastructure is put under the microscope, it’s and consolidate over 23 currently isolated appli-
exactly this data backbone that runs throughout my three key mil- cation systems—ultimately aiming to improve
itary logistics and support developments to watch out for in 2022 asset readiness both on a shore and material
and beyond :
basis. As part of a support agreement for the
NOBLE project, Lockheed Martin and IFS will
1. Ensuring military asset outcomes takes pre- deliver an intelligent maintenance solution that
cedence over traditional procurement models will help power digital transformation of multi-

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