The Department of National Defence has launched
public consultations for the development of a new defence policy for Canada.
Canadian Defence Matters is attempting to come up with some answers to
the ten questions contained in the “Defence Policy Review Public Consultation Document 2016”.
Question eight asks” What type of investments should Canada make in space, cyber, and
unmanned systems? To what extent should Canada strive to keep pace and be
interoperable with key allies in these domains?”
It is hard to understand what prompted the belief
that these three issues had anything in common, other than the perceived need
to “keep pace” with and “be interoperable with key allies in these domains”.
The paper points out that “Space technology is
increasingly critical for Canada’s economy and society” as well as being
essential to national security and defence. What “space technology” does, for
Canada, is provide GPS capacity, communications and a reconnaissance capability
through satellite systems like RADARSAT-2 and Sapphire.
In terms of Cyber systems the Public Consultation Document
also makes the point that dependence on information technology has become
central to the military. It is, as noted, “a highly complex threat environment
that poses significant challenges for the CAF and for Canada as a whole.”
With the premise that “Unmanned Systems have become
integral to modern military operations” the paper goes on to outline the
difficulties inherent in addressing the cultural road blocks imposed by using robotic
systems to fulfill tasks which previously gave value to the humans that
accomplished them.
One example of this dislocation is the continued preference
for the term ‘drone’ by those who oppose arming remotely piloted aircraft,
while those who do not oppose “weaponization” use the term ‘unmanned systems’.
Both sides of the argument apparently believing that nomenclature can determine
outcomes.
One thing these three areas do have in common is
that there seems to be no obvious reason that Canada needs to “keep pace” with
our allies in these areas. At the same time it seems equally obvious that we do
need to be “interoperable with key allies” with regard to these capabilities.
The other thing these seemingly disparate “domains”
do have in common is that our dependence on them could become areas of
vulnerability for our Forces.
At a minimum, the “investments should Canada make in
space, cyber, and unmanned systems” should involve a thorough and ongoing
threat assessment. What are our vulnerabilities in these fields? How can we
deal with the loss of capabilities in areas which we depend on but do not
control? What expenditures are necessary to maintain the ability to work with the systems of our allies with minimum effort.
These are the questions we need to ask, and the
answers to them are the things we need to invest in.
Defence Policy Review
Defence Policy Review
Public Consultation Document 2016
