Advertorial Article from the Handelsblatt Journal Defense
The European defense industry is under constant pressure to innovate. Companies face the challenge of ramping up production in the shortest possible time, while supply bottlenecks, skills shortages, and historically established processes often necessitate a controlled, slower pace. If critical components or information are not available in time along the supply chain, critical programs can grind to a complete halt.
New technologies and new forms of collaboration help to overcome these challenges. Data-driven processes, artificial intelligence, platforms, and digital ecosystems can provide a foundation for greater transparency, increased resilience, and faster production cycles.
A real-world example illustrates the challenge: Whether it's the integrator still reporting call-off quantities to their supplier via Excel, or the supplier manually and with a time delay sending back information on material availability – both face similar challenges today. Using this scenario as an example, the following section describes the three areas where action is needed in the next twelve months: data transparency, platform integration, and trustworthy ecosystems.
Data brings transparency to the defense industry
The supply chains of the defense industry are highly complex and increasingly vulnerable to geopolitical risks. Specialized materials, electronic components, sensors, and drive systems come from highly specialized suppliers whose production capacities are limited. If critical components are missing, entire production lines come to a standstill – transparency regarding material availability, delivery times, and risks is therefore becoming a crucial competitive factor.
Digital platforms and modern data exchange models help make information securely available across organizational boundaries. Technologies such as AI and hybrid cloud architectures support companies in making supply chains more resilient and efficient at the same time. Where the strictest requirements are necessary, sovereign infrastructure models help ensure that sensitive data remains under the control of the respective company.
Platform integration improves speed and production output
Integrated data platforms create the foundation for faster decisions based on consistent information rather than isolated assumptions. Digital twins further help to better understand complex systems throughout their entire lifecycle: maintenance data, production parameters, and operational information are combined, improving both availability and maintainability.
Platforms are driving industrial scaling in the ecosystem
No company can meet the challenge of rapidly expanding production capacity while maintaining the highest safety and quality standards alone. Platforms help to securely connect data, processes, and partners, enabling closer collaboration between integrators, manufacturers, suppliers, technology partners, and public sector clients.
Artificial intelligence is playing an increasingly important role. For AI to be used trustworthy in the defense sector, a comprehensive AI platform is needed, featuring a dedicated governance layer, an integrated data layer, and an open modeling layer that allows companies to flexibly deploy various models, including open-source ones. Agentic AI systems can help automate routine tasks and relieve the burden on highly specialized personnel. Companies that can make production, supply, and operational data available more quickly gain a competitive edge.
The transformation of the defense industry continues.
The defense industry has always been technology-driven. Today, however, digital technologies are gaining additional strategic importance. Artificial intelligence, cloud technologies, automation, and quantum computing are creating new opportunities along the entire value chain – from development and production to the maintenance and operation of complex systems. Quantum computing promises to enable significantly faster execution of complex material, fluid, or manufacturing simulations in the future and to considerably shorten development cycles.
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