Military morphs into new opportunity
08 September 2009
Defence and security has never been in such sharp focus.
As the debate continues about the rights and wrongs of NATO involvement in Afghanistan, this week started with guilty verdicts being handed out to three Al-Qaeda connected bombers. I presume this comes at a handy time for those on the ‘stay until the job is done’ side of the argument, as it was the 9/11 bombers who triggered the operations in Afghanistan.
Although these bombers were detained three years ago, I don’t think the landscape has changed much since then - the bombers’ targets of Trans-Atlantic airlines feels as relevant today as it did in 2006. Of course any terrorist attack in any part of the world is equally significant, and equally abhorrent, but when it happens on our own doorstep, affecting British citizens, we are bound to feel more aware of the chilling consequences of these events. I’m not sure if this is the consequence of a selfish gene, a survival instinct or just common sense, but in general we would prefer danger to be as far away from our shores as possible.
One of the reasons I am most likely to be on a Trans-Atlantic flight is to visit important trade shows in the US, but such life-threatening activities are not needed this week as the trade show I will be visiting is handily located in London’s Docklands. DSEi is the Defence Systems & Equipment International Exhibition and there will be no shortage of life-threatening equipment on display. But despite the slightly sinister glamour of tanks and trucks, battleships and bullets, DSEi is very much a trade show that covers every aspect of the supply chain – from design through manufacture to sale of end equipment and services.
What I am curious to see this week, from the point of view of the electronics engineer, is how the market is changing and how new opportunities might be opening up within the defence sector for a broader range of companies involved in electronics design. This could reflect the change, as has been much speculated during recent reviews of the defence budget, in what the role of the armed forces is. It used to be quite simple. ‘Defence’ meant ‘attack’ and war was conducted by two armies on a battlefield. Supplying the armed forces meant having specific military approvals and if you didn’t have them then you were not welcome at the party.
Nowadays things have changed. The role of the military is no longer mass destruction of a known enemy, it is often not even clear who the enemy is. And those who are not the enemy, but may look and dress like the enemy, are the people you need on side – ‘hearts and minds’ and all that sort of thing. I think the bravery of British soldiers, and how they manage to stay sane in that sort of environment, is beyond comprehension to someone like me, but what is clear is that it requires different types of equipment.
Equally, soldiers are moving beyond ‘peace-keeping’ roles to humanitarian aid activities, which require very limited weaponry. In disaster zones it is equipment for recovery or reconstruction that will be more prevalent. However, does the equipment supplied for these activities need to be military spec?
Further, and going back to the top of this article, the Al-Qaeda bombers were not caught by combat soldiers, but by intelligence. This is still an electronic-rich equipment set, but do the same approvals need to be in place for surveillance activities such as this, or for less important security and surveillance applications?
My point is just that the accepted ‘military’ sector used to be a difficult one for electronics companies to break into, but now, as the definition of what the sector covers becomes blurred around the edges, there may be far more opportunities than you might think. DSEi might be the place to highlight some of these opportunities.
If you are interested in paying a visit to the DSEi show (which goes on until Friday) then the web address is www.dsei.co.uk and you will need to register online first for security purposes.
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