1. SDSR Outcomes & Implications - RAF Air Cdre Chris Moore
AO A6/A6 Force Commander
Sirs, ladies and gentlemen, good morning. You know who I am and by now you will have a good idea of what I am going to cover with respect to the SDSR outcomes and implications for the RAF. 1 1

2. Information-centric capabilities
I am not going into the detail of what the RAF gained from SDSR, that has been well covered elsewhere.
I will say however that there is a key thread that run through all of the capabilities the RAF will operate in the 21st century and that is that our airpower is evolving from platform-centric to information-centric operations 2

3. Implications People Doctrine Procurement
As a consequence there are 3 major implications for the RAF, Defence and indeed Industry to consider and they are …….as per the slide above.

4. Implications
People
Doctrine
Procurement
Turning to people first…

5. The RAF has always had people at the fore-front of technology, but the game is changing and so must we. Not only will there be an increased demand for information professionals from SDSR, the skillset they possess will need to change too.
I have just announced an initiative to re-balance and re-re-focus our information professionals, particularly our communications engineers and ICT technicians.
This will focus our in-house talent on areas like cyber, rapid applications development and fighting our networks, particularly when operating in a contested environment. 5

6. Whole Force Opportunities
In doing so there will be increased Whole force opportunities for industry particularly in areas like information administration, the running of Main Operating Base CIS and the servicing of our equipment. The RAF and indeed wider Defence will also be looking at novel and innovative ways to evolve our employment model to cross fertilise our capabilities with industry.

7. Implications People Doctrine Procurement
Next I will consider doctrine…

8. “Victory smiles upon those who anticipate the changes in the character of war, not upon those who wait to adapt themselves after the changes occur."
The 21st century has seen the advent of Warfare in the Information Age. This is already challenging how we operate and indeed how our enemies operate against us.
Gen Giulio Douhet

9. Indeed in many respect some of our more agile foes are arguable adapting quicker than the more conventional militaries. There are some quite stunning examples of how the exploitation of commercial off the shelf technology is giving our enemies combat advantage. 9

10. Global Battlespace
But we are not standing still, and our airpower doctrine is evolving to consider a new global battlespace, not one that is just Theatre based. 10

11. Information Services
And modern warfare is not just fought with s and attachments…….rich near real-time information services are now giving our commanders a hitherto unprecedented level of data. The trick however is how to exploit it without becoming paralysed by it. 11

12. To meet these 21st century challenges the RAF is looking at how it can become far more responsive, almost operating at a readiness of ‘now’ to meet the ambition of our politicians.
This is forcing us to look at our information enablers, so often a constraint, to see how they can actually become force multiplying. 12 12

13. We are also looking at how we can drastically reduce our deployed footprint to minimise the logistical burden through greater levels of reachback, but at the same time giving our forward commanders much richer sets of information services. 13

14. We will also have to be prepared to work with a large number of different tribes, some predictable like the US, the 5 Eyes community, France and NATO and others which we didn’t predict but will still have to interoperate with at very short notice. 14 14

15. And we will need to adapt our people and capabilities in short order to counter the uncertainty of the modern contemporary environment. 15 15

16. And particularly in the cyber and electromagnetic environment where a highly technical RAF will have considerable vulnerabilities, but also some potential opportunities. 16

17. Implications
People
Doctrine
Procurement
Turning to procurement….

18. I need not tell this audience about the explosion IT development which is at risk of running away from us. The challenge is how we can try and stay within touching distance of new technologies so that we can exploit them, or understand how they may potentially be used against us.

19. …in doing so we need to reduce the massive overhead with the plethora of systems we have in-service today. Not only is this hugely expensive, it is manpower intensive and also makes us vulnerable. 19 19

20. 21st Century IT Procurement
….It is not the ability to plan and conceive which is key, but rather the ability to adapt and evolve
21st Century IT Procurement
Mike Stone, the MOD’s CDIO is leading the charge in changing our strategic approach to the procurement of information services and this should help us to create the agility we need to rapidly bring into service battle winning information technology. Front and centre in that approach is the need to move away from the traditional approach of planning and conceiving new capabilities, but more so towards adapting and evolving what we already have. 20

21. ….in future we need to procure production lines with industry, not products, whereby Defence’s best and brightest stand shoulder to shoulder with industry and spirally develop capabilities in contact with the operational demand. 21

22. PEOPLE PROCESSES TECHNOLOGY 22
And in doing so it is not just about the technology, we must spirally develop our people and processes with the new technologies to ensure we get the battle winning mix right.
TECHNOLOGY
PROCESSES 22

23. So to summarize, the SDSR has provided a clear direction of travel for the RAF. We must now evolve our people, our doctrine and the procurement and development of information-centric capabilities to gain combat advantage in the future. If we can do that it will be a win for Defence, a win for the UK and a win for our allies as we develop with them. 23

24. Fin