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less concerned with forensics than I am with real-time
knowledge of what my adversary is doing and how
can I stay a step ahead,” says the Mitchell Institute’s
Deptula. “The real-time aspect gives the edge over an
adversary by building situational awareness, but that
is not to reduce the importance of forensics, which can
help develop options to greater strategic challenges.”
BAE Systems’ Vogel agrees: “Being agile and allow-
ing customers to do either real-time or forensic anal-
ysis with a common sensing solution is the most
important thing.”
Software-defined systems will satisfy the bulk of
requirements going forward, while advances in com-
mercial technologies will enable those systems to have
the performance required and the flexibility necessary
to adapt to military targets.
“There are domains where MILSPEC sensors are still
required, but even there you are seeing much more
COTS influence than in the past. The whole chain has
to be optimized to achieve an advantage,” Vogel says. “If
you have the best sensors, but the next step in the cycle
isn’t equally the best, then that’s the limiting factor in
the product you’re generating. It’s really a system-of-sys-
tems approach, from the platform through the sensor to
the back-end processing, all of which are critical.”
The ISR target environment is evolving more rapidly
than it ever has. “Traditional technologies and acquisi-
tion models need to be updated to keep pace with that,
Vogel says. “We’re addressing that in two ways, from a
technology standpoint — software-defined, open archi-
tecture sensors built on standards-based designs and
open to technology insertion over their life cycles —
and, of equal importance, open business models, giving
customers the right positions and data so they can pro-
mote competition and innovation to get discriminating
technology insertion when its needed.”
As to the future, Raytheon’s Chappell offers a more
definitive look at real-time delivery. “As we continue to
evolve our capabilities, it all goes back to the changing
nature of the threat and our need to stay ahead of that
threat. We have a lot of capability from a sensor stand-
point; now it is all about networking those capabilities
together, sharing the information across the different
organizations at the speed and skill we need to under-
stand patterns of life. And that means a big focus on
automation and analytics,” she says. “So, the key is
delivering at the speed of need.” Í
