Anyone who can remember the days of “Network Enabled Capability” (or its US equivalent, Network-Centric Warfare), introduced in the year 2000’s, will know that the exchange of information has long been identified as a priority for militaries in the digital age.
But while industry and commerce transformed themselves through the so-called “big data” revolution of the 1990s and 2000s, defence largely stood still. The result is a structural weakness that now limits its ability to harness the full potential of artificial intelligence and digital transformation.
Lessons Unlearned
The big data era was defined by a realisation that value lies not in the systems themselves, but in the interoperability of data across them. Enterprises learned to consolidate, clean up and contextualise their data, transforming it into a strategic asset. We see this today in companies like Meta, Tesla and Google.
Meanwhile, the defence industry doubled down on programme-specific architectures, bespoke standards and stovepiped information environments.
The result today is a digital patchwork. Each thread is strong in isolation but frayed at the joins. The sector never fully embraced data as infrastructure. Data is treated as a by-product, not a foundation.
Consequences in the Age of AI
At the Integrated Warfare Centre Conference in Shrivenham, Oxfordshire earlier this year, the Ministry of Defence emphasised its renewed focus on People and Data as its most important assets.
There was a recognition that without solid data foundations, neither digital transformation nor operational advantage can be sustained. It’s an overdue but welcome admission that capability begins not with algorithms, but with information.
A recurring theme in each of the presentations was that neglect of data has become a constraint. Artificial intelligence, machine learning, and automation are only as good as the data that feeds them. Yet across the defence industry, valuable information remains locked behind classification barriers, incompatible formats, and decades-old assumptions about ownership and control.
The contrast is clear: while technology is racing ahead, the data beneath it – at least in defence – is stuck in the past.
Building Firm Foundations
To avoid repeating history, the defence industry must proactively invest in its data future. This can be achieved by focussing on three key areas:
Treat Data as Capability, Not Collateral. Every new platform, system or programme must budget and plan for data as a deliverable capability in its own right. That includes schema design, metadata standards, governance frameworks and lifecycle management from day one – not as an afterthought.
Mandate Secure Data Sharing by Design. Integration should not depend on heroic middleware efforts years later. Defence must impose open data standards, API-first architectures, and create shared data fabrics that allow systems to speak a common language across domains and security classifications. Secure data sharing is not a risk to be managed; it is an operational necessity to be engineered.
Empower the Data Workforce. The emphasis on People and Data must go beyond slogans. Defence needs empowered data stewards, not accidental ones. Individuals trained, incentivised and trusted to curate, safeguard and share information responsibly. Building a data-literate workforce is as critical as acquiring the next-generation AI tools or applications.
If the defence industry is serious about operational advantage in the information age, it must first fix the fault in our data. Technology will not compensate for the absence of coherent, high-quality, and accessible information.
The next revolution in defence will not come from AI itself, but from how well we prepare the ground beneath it.
Colin Hillier is a defence technology leader with over two decades’ experience at the intersection of modelling, simulation, data-driven decision-making and operational analysis. A former Royal Navy Officer and technical founder of Mission Decisions, Colin has delivered multi-million-pound programmes across the UK MOD, NATO and industry, advancing synthetic environments, digital training and interoperability. His work continues to shape how trusted data and emerging technologies drive smarter, faster and more resilient decision-making across Defence.
