In defence of a nation - Innovation

Monday, July 27, 2009 | Posted by: Grant Thornton
Categories: Technology | Tags: innovation, technology, research, global, university, engineering, europe, science, intellectual property, defence, robots

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21st Century Western defence systems are based on Sun Tzu’s assertion: “The art of using troops is this…when ten to the enemy’s one, surround him.”

Today, Western technology surrounds the enemies of Western principles. ‘The West’ as it once was, is no longer geographically defined as Europe plus the United States, Canada, and a couple of others, it is an expanding umbrella.

Western allies are essentially, trading partners. Which means as global markets converge, so do global defence systems. Global defence markets are built on innovation – the capacity to use the fastest, most agile, sometimes most destructive technology. As the West increases trade with developing nations, it is acquiring new intellectual property, integrating it into the global defence market, and ensuring that enemies of ‘The West’ are prevented from acquiring the best technology, at least in the short-term.

Britain has long maintained a formidable position in the global defence sector, and it maintains a remarkable presence on account, not of its military muscle, but its sophisticated technology and technological development. To say that defence is all in the mind is not far from the mark, for we defend our nation today, not with might, but with intellect.

“All warfare is based on deception,” said Sun Tzu, “hence, when able to attack, we must seem unable; when using our forces, we must seem inactive; when we are near, we must make the enemy believe we are far away; when far away, we must make him believe we are near. Hold out baits to entice the enemy. Feign disorder, and crush him.” This is the mantra of today’s security forces, and they are armed most importantly with the tools to engage cyber terrorism, which would destroy our financial services, our utilities and our transport network. They are armed against hidden enemies; our defence is wired with sensors, satellites, robots, drones.

As an innovation island, Britain’s future can only be secured by technological innovation. It doesn’t start with the armed forces, or military intelligence, it starts in university laboratories throughout the UK, throughout the West. Our weaponry and means of defence are discreet, based on deception, and often, based on an area of expertise far from high security buildings.

Research, development, engineering, prototyping, system improvements, and testing, all require highly skilled engineers for a complex of specialisms.

This week, and for the second year running, a Heriot-Watt University team has won the annual Student Autonomous Underwater Challenge - Europe (SAUC-E) – an underwater robot championship organised by the Defence Science and Technology Laboratory ( Dstl ), sponsored by BAE Systems.

According to Public Technology , Heriot-Watt’s robot, ‘Nessie’ performed underwater tasks autonomously including passing through several gates without touching the frames, parking inside a box and following a moving target. The tests all took place in Europe’s largest freshwater tank at QinetiQ’s Ocean Basin in Haslar, Gosport, which is normally used by the Ministry of Defence for ship and submarine trials.

French team ENSIETA (Ecole Nationale Supérieure des Ingénieurs des Etudes et Techniques d’Armement) from Brest, Brittany, came second. ENSIETA’s robot relied totally on sonar for its guidance system. A German team from the University of Bremen came third, their robot used cameras and a structured lighting laser system so that it could ‘look’ to see what was in front on it and assess what it was doing.

A broadband connection away, in the United States, Greg Combet, Minister for Defence Personnel, Materiel and Science, has announced a million dollar international competition challenging manufacturers and research organisations to build fully autonomous ground robots able to operate effectively in military operations. 

“While remote-controlled robots are being deployed in operational areas, we need smart, intelligent and fully autonomous systems that can take over from humans in conducting intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance missions. This competition aims to attract the most innovative solutions from around the world to address a technology gap currently faced by coalition forces operating in urban combat zones,” said Combet.

WWII hero and villain, General Patton, declared: “there is no such thing as a successful defence” - which is why the genteel term ‘defence’ is a misnomer. In the global defence market, rapid prototyping is more crucial than in any other section.  Sun Tzu understood the principle of ‘first to market’ when he said: “Though we have heard of stupid haste in war, cleverness has never been seen associated with long delays.”

Must watch:

Ted Talks - PW Singer on military robots and the future of war:
http://www.ted.com/talks/lang/eng/pw_singer_on_robots_of_war.html