Making a difference

The needs of the modern Armed Forces and the pace of technological change have revolutionised the Civil Defence industry. Only the flexible and imaginative need apply.

Official documents may describe it as a forward air traffic control centre, but in reality it's a Portakabin perched on the edge of a makeshift airstrip. Those inside face the constant threat of enemy attach and protective clothing is a must.

So when forward air traffic controllers in Iraq discovered that their radio headsets were too bulky to wear under a helmet, finding a solution was potentially a matter of life and death.

The task fell to Racal Acoustics, a British defence engineering firm employing around 190 people. "Within two weeks our rapid prototyping lab had adapted, tested, manufactured and shipped a headset that could be warn under a helmet," says Michael Stembridge, Racal's head of engineering. "Today's customers want rapid delivery of protoypes and samples so we have a designated laboratory, which is where we developed the headset."

Such quick responses may not be what is expected from a defence industry better known for taking a decade to develop a submarine or jet fighter. But they are becoming increasingly common through a combination of commercial rivalry and the pressures of active operations in Iraq and Afghanistan.

"The speed and adaptability of our current opponents is massive," says Giles Cowling, from the MoD's Defence Science and Technology Laboratory (DSTL). "The can develop new threats very quickly, so our watchwords now are flexibility and responsiveness."

A degree of lateral thinking may be required according to Cowling. To protect a vehicle from roadside bombs, for example, engineers could add more armour plating. But, in order to calculate the optimum positioning and thickness they may need to know where the bomb is likely to be placed and what it might be made of. An alternative solution could be a bomb detection device. But how will this be fitted and how will the troops use it?

Thinking more laterally still, would it be better to deploy unmanned reconnaissance aircraft to sniff out the enemy before it can detonate, or even place a bomb? And once the unmanned place has located a target, can the information be interpreted in real time to direct a missile strike from a fighter aircraft or armoured vehicle that may be miles away from a target?

Defence engineers call this "systems thinking": combining elements so that the while is greater than the sum of its parts.

"It takes a special kind of teamwork to make it a success," says Cowling, "with people who adopt a flexible approach with different engineering disciplines."

To speed up development defence firms are adopting "lean systems engineering" techniques, which were first developed by the automotive industry. "We want to really understand the requirement and deliver that and nothing else, cutting out all the waste in the process," says Keith Williams, Managing Director of British defence software firm Praxis High Integrity Systems. The approach enables an aircraft's weapon systems to be certified in weeks rather than months.

Systems engineering can be applied to the largest projects. "The key is to break a complex system into manageable parts," says Paul Stein, the MoD's science and technology director. "If you do this right, the cost of inserting new technology during the system's life drops considerably." This will enable new fighting platforms like Eurofighter or the FRES armoured vehicle to remain at the cutting edge for a decade or more.

Another key change in the defence market is support for the whole of a system's life. "Today's defence customer is focused on buying capability, not products, so it's expected that the provider will support a system through its operational life," says Mike Simms, vice-president for account management at aerospace and defence giant EADS.

Maintenance and enhancements can account for 70 per cent of the lifetime value of a contract, and support obligations mean the supplier's staff may have to travel anywhere in the world, including into combat zones.

The effect on defence suppliers can be profound. "You're creating a complete business enterprise that maintains and supports the system through its entire life," says Williams.

First appearing in The Daily Telegraph, Thursday 22 November 2007. (This report was by Paul Bray and is copyright of The Daily Telegraph)