Military Communications and Information Technology: A Trusted ...

Openness in Military Systems
Jessica Connah, Abigail Solomon, John McInnes,
Olwen Worthington, Dale Chambers
Defence Science and Technology Laboratory (Dstl), Salisbury, Wiltshire, England,
www.dstl.gov.uk
Abstract: Traditional approaches to military network procurement taken by government can lead to
vender lock-in, reducing the potential for competition when the systems need refreshing or major
upgrades, and also for through life maintenance requirements. One solution to these problems could
be to require an open systems approach in military systems procurement, reducing single supplier
issues through well defined architectures, interfaces and ‘open by design’ concepts. The paper presents
a technical analysis of UK military systems procurement over the last few decades to provide context
for the current open systems approach. The paper then explicitly discusses the potential benefits and
risks of such an approach and finally explores how this may impact on air interface, network and
security systems. Research into Open Systems Architecture (OSA) approaches from two Ministry
of Defence (MOD) programs is reviewed; the Modular Open Systems Architecture (MOSA), and
the Land Open Systems Architecture (LOSA), whose aim is to introduce openness within the land
environment. The primary conclusions of the work which will be elaborated in the paper are; that
openness is key to providing increased interoperability, flexibility and agility, and that benefits can be
obtained from designing a degree of openness into all aspects of military networks, for example
in security, air interfaces and waveforms.
Keywords: open; open system; open system architecture; openness; military; MOD; networks;
interoperability
I. Introduction
Where military capability is dependent on complex system technologies,
UK defense has needed to invest heavily to sustain the advantage necessary for
success in the battle space. The early costs of raising the technology boundary to
the next level and exploiting this in new military equipment can be significant.
Delivery times are often long; therefore the risk that the original capability requirement
or technology opportunity has shifted increases.
Once delivered, enhancements to bespoke military equipment can be expensive
and often unaffordable, as the incumbent industrial supplier levers the Ministry
© Crown copyright 2012. Published with the permission of the Defence Science and Technology Laboratory on
behalf of the Controller of HMSO. Reference number DSTL/CP65717.