Greenwich, London. 12 September 2017. Governments, military forces and industry all need to lower the barriers hindering the sharing of C4ISR technology to ensure that the maximum future value is gained from exploiting battlefield intelligence, Air Power Association President Air Marshal (Ret’d) Greg Bagwell told the Air Capability Conference on zero day (September 11) of DSEI ’17 .

His presentation focused on The Combat Cloud – Next Generation Battlespace Interoperability and Integration will tell the audience that the military cloud community needs to focus on the function of advancing ISR technology rather than the form.

Air Marshal (Ret’d) Greg Bagwell believes the biggest danger to maximising the full capability of intelligence technology is conceptual rather than technical, including the need to overcome multiple nodes/points of decision, multiple ownership, over classification and institutional inertia.

“The result could be that future emphasis will be on protocols rather than the systems. If conceptual blocks get in the way, we will not be making the most of the capability that exists now and in the future to deliver valuable fused data to the warfighter,” he says.

The greater collaborative, transparent approach needs to transcend allied governments, militaries and industry so that networks and systems are developed together. The value in pursuing such principles becomes even more crucial with the widespread international operation of intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance platforms such as the F-35.

Air Marshal (Ret’d) Bagwell added that networks and systems are developing at a rapid pace but industry, the military and different arms of the military all have a vested interest in ensuring that they work together to progress such advances.

“There are issues such as IP that form barriers to developing networks and systems that would maximize performance. These blocks sometimes exist for good reason but we have to look closely at creating an environment where everyone works together to maximize the value of joint technologies and operations,” said Air Marshal (Ret’d) Bagwell.