Top Engineer Advises Global Defence Industry to Ready for an Open Architecture Future

LONDON, August 24, 2011 /PRNewswire/ --

In light of UK MoD plans to overhaul its procurement standards, one of the nation's leading engineers clarifies the concept and benefits of open architecture, as specialists assemble in London to begin vital preparation for the future.

The inaugural Interoperable Open Architecture conference, taking place this October 26th to 28th at London's Le Méridien Piccadilly, is the first and only event of its kind, and aims to prepare the defence industry for the standardisation of full-scale open architecture.

In an interview with Defence IQ, Professor Michael Henshaw, leader of the Engineering Systems of Systems (ESoS) Research Group and academic at Loughborough University, explained that defence departments worldwide must get to grips with the reality of a big shift in the approach to procurement.

"It's really about changing the basis on which defence systems are procured and managed, and I would say, in many ways it's about moving to a much more collaborative environment between the suppliers - industry - and the customer," he said.

The concept of greater interoperability is designed to better aid frontline requirements, providing troops with higher quality options at a faster response rate, yet is also aimed to reduce long-term expenditure, increase competition, and enhance the partnership between industry and military.

Publishing of systems information so that other providers can develop their own systems on its foundations is an approach that many in the industry have been reluctant to welcome in, but Henshaw believes that aside to better chances for small firm business, "almost all of any of the primes could potentially benefit."

"The benefits that they might see may be opening up opportunities for export and market share, because they can plug their systems into other systems more effectively, and it could help in terms of sustainability because they are using fewer parts or suppliers. It depends on the commercial arrangement."

Having received criticism from both the National Audit Office and the House of Commons Public Accounts Committee, the UK's Ministry of Defence is under huge pressure to restructure its methodology towards defence acquisition.

As a result, UK defence ministers are now developing a new white paper, scheduled for release at the end of the year, and expected to embrace the 'off-the-shelf', open architecture approach recommended by these other public bodies.

Previous examples of successful open architecture programmes include the UK's Generic Vehicle Architecture (GVA) project, which resulted in standardised vehicle electronics, and the US DoD's UCS project, developing common support for unmanned systems across all services.

Professor Henshaw's full 30 minute interview can be viewed at http://bit.ly/oBnihB

More information can be found at http://www.IOAevent.com. Bookings can also be made by emailing enquire@defenceiq.com, or by calling +44(0)20-7368-9300.