New DII(F) IT System

[Data-Lynx]

Oh 'F'

For a bitter view on Govt IT waste, try yesterday's The Register. While it leans towards the geek and considers more than just Defence, there is one rant:

And I don't mean the sham of a 'citizen centric' soundbite which actually entails the producer second-guessing what a citizen might want. The public sector needs an information architecture where appropriate information is centralised but fulfilment is localised.

An attempt to decode this for aviators might say: The military sector needs professionals outside the squadron to provide, in a timely manner, all the latest trusted electronic information on sufficent PCs (sorry - User Access Devices) for the crews to plan their missions locally.

What do we potentially lose if DII applies the '80% is sufficient' rule of business and does a runner? We lose a solution to all the deployed user requirements, which we already know will not be delivered in what is left of this decade.

So What? There is so much electronic stuff out there: planning with task & control orders, battlespace management, orders, Int, maps, charts, weather & environment, threat with likely enemy intent, significant activity, own callsigns - locations - movement, freqs and comms stuff. Your fixers also place increasing relience on engineering and asset management stuff for modern aircraft. Isn't this what we need to fulfil our tasks?

How well would DII/F would do this? We are still waiting to see the proposals but there is no alternative.