Getting a new defense product to market takes up to 10 years. So what do industry leaders feel we should be worrying about now? We ask six senior company representatives to reveal where they see the biggest threats developing.

00.06 – Voice-over – Paul King – Editor, NATO Review

NATO Review asked representatives of six leading defense companies what they think will be the biggest threats in the next 10 years. Here we present their answers.

00.17 – Jeff Kohler – Vice President, International Business Development, Boeing

I don’t think we still understand critical infrastructure protection and how cyber can affect that. As we sit here right at the entrance of the Bosporus and you just look at all the shipping that’s going through, it wouldn’t take much to distort, to disrupt the flow of that, causing confusion and who is going which way and so forth. So, this is a serious threat we have to pay attention to. I think, again from my commercial aircraft’s side, we’re very concerned about it. As commercial airplanes become more and more digital and electronic, we have actually started to put cyber protection into the software of our commercial airplanes. Because if you think about it, as they enter an airport environment, they’re starting to exchange information. And so we have to able to protect the aircraft software itself. So, there are a lot of issues coming down the road, just on cyber alone.

01.16 – Martin Hill – Vice President Defense, EU and NATO affairs, Thales

For me… cyber. The new global commons is cyber, the network. Every single item that we have depends on cyber. The timing signals from Satnav fundamentally define every single financial transaction… All of our critical infrastructure is controlled by some sort of network. This is the… has to be the area where we’re going to face problems. And we’re going to have to spend a fortune actually.

01.53 – David Perry – Corporate Vice President, Northrop Grumman

There will be a massive shift towards unmanned systems, not just aircraft, but unmanned systems. There will be a massive increase in interoperability, in interconnectedness of those systems as they are deployed around the world. And many have called that the ‘Internet of things’. So, just about every tangible device could be connected in some way, sharing information on the grid. Rather than just your smartphone, think of everything in your life being somehow enabled with some degree of connectivity.

02.29 – Steve Williams – Regional President for Continental Europe, Lockheed Martin

You’ll see more dual use. What used to be just looking for enemy targets, now can actually help you in some of our satellite constellations today, better understand the environment, looking towards the Arctic, where someone may have an issue and need combat search and rescue or better awareness. I think the tools for that are going to be far more heavily relied on, just as we do with our iPhone today. Ten years ago it was just a phone.

03.00 – Alberto de Benedictis – CEO, Finmeccanica UK

We’re looking at all those areas that allow smaller forces to be more effective anywhere a conflict is required. So, whether it’s commanding control, whether it’s joined ISTAR, whether it’s cyber, all those areas that quote unquote connect forces and allow them to multiply the capability, that’s, I think, one of the biggest focus areas.

03.33 – Håkan Buskhe – President and CEO, Saab

I think basically to fast reaction equipment, to have a good surveillance capability and possibility to move the right equipment to exact targeting will be the key going forward. And then of course it’s connected to information technology in many parts. And I think that’s probably the thing that will be moving ahead if we see the trends today. The problem with trends is that they will be interrupted by other things.

NATO Review

www.nato.int/review

The opinions expressed in NATO Review do not necessarily reflect those of NATO or its member countries.

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