By Chris Young
The US military has long had a complex, symbiotic relationship with business technology and industrial innovation. With stunning advances like the Internet and, more recently, drone technology, the armed forces often appears to be leading the charge to create the hardware and software of the future. But the growing analytic power used by corporations and institutions to crunch consumer data may be driving a paradigm shift in modern warcraft. Techonomy asked Chris Young, President of military and intelligence contractor ITT Exelis Geospatial Systems, to assess how techonomic change is reshaping the defense industry and his company’s strategy.
When U.S. Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta outlined a strategic review of the country’s national defense, he called for increased investment in the areas of intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance. Panetta spotlighted information processing, exploitation, and dissemination—a growing priority for the military that makes use of vast networks of sensors that produce intelligence ranging from satellite imagery to drone-captured video to text files.
Like many businesses and organizations, our national and global security is becoming increasingly reliant on rapidly making sense of and managing the growing amount of intelligence data available today. Simply put, big data is now a fixture on the battlefield and across the global security landscape. But similar to health care professionals managing large volumes of patient data, processing the massive amount of military intelligence and information can be like drinking from a fire hose, both for soldiers out in the field and for defense professionals operating in command centers. As with other institutions, the military and our intelligence agencies are drowning in a sea of information.
Since 9/11, the amount of data from drones and other surveillance technology has risen 1,600 percent. Our armed services now have approximately 7 million computing devices--a number that is expected to double by 2020. As Lt. Gen. Michael Oates, head of the Joint Improvised Explosive Device Organization, has stated, “There is no shortage of data. There is a dearth of analysis.”
The challenges and opportunities created by big data are by now well documented for a range of fields, but managing the growing amount of available information has never been more relevant to how our country is fighting wars and planning for future threats. Big data and its growing role in maintaining global security also critically impacts the work of defense companies competing in an uncertain marketplace. In an industry confronted with political gridlock, constrained government spending, and shifting Department of Defense priorities, this will remain a fundamental technological challenge for the military, creating opportunities for companies like ours.
On the battlefield, the time it takes to access intelligence can be a matter of life or death. Harvesting, analyzing, and rapidly converting large data sets into actionable intelligence is currency for the military. To meet these needs, defense companies are looking beyond the Washington beltway to places like Silicon Valley, incorporating a number of the values that have come to personify the technology hub. While the defense industry has always been a driver of innovation, elements like agility, speed, and advanced software capabilities are growing more critical to responding to quickly delivering solutions to the field. This echoes the reality that Techonomy’s David Kirkpatrick articulated in Forbes when he argued that “the era of separating traditional industries and technology industries is over—and those who fail to adapt right now will soon find themselves obsolete.”
This is why defense companies who have strong positions producing sensors like satellite payloads and airborne surveillance systems have leveraged their expertise in the collection business to help military customers begin to tackle the challenge of information overload. For instance, my company, ITT Exelis’ Geospatial Systems, now delivers in-theater intelligence software solutions that process imagery and full-motion video from airborne (on-board a drone, for example) sensor systems that monitor and carry out surveillance over a large area of interest, such as regions of a city. If an event like an explosion occurs, this surveillance information is ingested into the enterprise and users can be notified almost immediately, and have access to the data. The event can also be stored with the larger body of content across the enterprise, allowing the user to respond in real time and immediately initiate exploitation tasks and forensic analysis. From a smartphone to a command center, the user can manipulate the system like a DVR, rewinding back in time to track the developments in the area of interest leading up to that specific event. This instant form of intelligence can have a critical impact on safety and outcomes in the field.
The success of defense companies and their capacity to meet the evolving needs of customers will continue to benefit from an ability to be agile, flexible, and capable of taking innovations to new markets—hallmarks of the strongest technology companies of our time. IBM, a company that has played a role in bringing the discussion of big data and information overload to mainstream audiences, talks about using technology to build a “smarter planet.” There is no reason we should not be applying this same goal to protecting our national interests today and tomorrow.
