Feature: Australia adapts to new defence data strategy
Analysis
Data is now a key resource on the battlespace, with crucial applications in everything from intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance (ISR) to maintenance. The Australian Department of Defence’s (DoD’s) Defence Data Strategy 2.0 underscores its growing importance, with the country’s armed forces and national defence industry looking to the future applications of data-focused technologies.
Released in August 2024, the Defence Data Strategy 2.0 builds on its 2021–23 predecessor, with a range of focuses on both ‘warfighting data’ and ‘corporate data’. Warfighting data covers areas such as mission data, targeting data, intelligence mission data, and surveillance data; corporate data refers to areas such as engineering, maintenance, financial, and logistics data.
However, there can be significant overlap between warfighting and corporate data, as some corporate data (in logistics and maintenance, for instance) can also provide important information in a warfighting context.
According to the report, “Defence must operate from the basis that the information environment it will operate in and through over the next decade will be increasingly contested, if not denied. Access to and use of our data assets relies on the resilience of our digital networks, which must be able to move more data – and at greater speed and volume.”
At the centre of the programme is the ‘OneDefence Data Platform’, which collates DoD data into a single platform with a common interface. It links together disparate data sources to enable enterprise-wise data catalogues, as well as providing archiving, search, access, and analytics capabilities. The OneDefence Data Platform covers all structured and unstructured enterprise data, although it does not extend to intelligence and surveillance data.
“The ability to seamlessly discover, access, and derive advanced insights from [the DoD’s] vast data assets will drive enhanced preparedness and availability of the integrated, focused force, as well as resource prioritisation and planning in support of the 2024 National Defence Strategy objectives,” the report stated.
Paul Robards, chief data integration officer at the Australian DoD, told Janes in June 2025 that the OneDefence Data Platform is operational, with work under way to grow the data assets available within the platform. He said it would not only provide the means to manage, integrate, catalogue, archive, share, and use data, but would also include tools to support data science, business intelligence and visualisation, and machine learning (ML).
In comparison with its predecessor, the Defence Data Strategy 2.0 has a greater emphasis on “how [the DoD] will use data to enhance military capabilities and achieve decision advantage, which is the ability to make better decisions, faster than any potential adversary”, Robards said. Importantly, it recognises the importance of artificial intelligence (AI), “and the ability of AI to enhance the value of [the DoD’s] data”, he stressed.
Robards said data would be a key enabler for advanced defence capabilities, including the types of technologies prioritised in AUKUS Pillar 2, which covers areas such as AI and autonomy, cyber capabilities, and quantum technologies.
“The Defence Data Strategy 2.0 will enhance [the DoD’s] platforms and capabilities through the inclusion of data as a fundamental input to capability, enhanced data interoperability, the adoption of AI at scale, and the uplift of data skills,” he said. “The strategy will uplift [the DoD’s] data maturity through the growth of a data culture that understands, values, shares, and uses defence data as a strategic asset.”
It is important that the DoD’s future data and analytics capabilities are built on the data available through the OneDefence Data Platform, Robards said. Industry can assist by ensuring that the platform and its data sources are at the core of any future data and analytics activities conducted for the DoD, he added.
“Industry can also assist by adhering to [the DoD’s] relevant data standards, which are designed to ensure data interoperability across the integrated focused force.”
For access to the full feature visit: Feature: Australia adapts to new defence data strategy
Released in August 2024, the Defence Data Strategy 2.0 builds on its 2021–23 predecessor, with a range of focuses on both ‘warfighting data’ and ‘corporate data’. Warfighting data covers areas such as mission data, targeting data, intelligence mission data, and surveillance data; corporate data refers to areas such as engineering, maintenance, financial, and logistics data.
However, there can be significant overlap between warfighting and corporate data, as some corporate data (in logistics and maintenance, for instance) can also provide important information in a warfighting context.
According to the report, “Defence must operate from the basis that the information environment it will operate in and through over the next decade will be increasingly contested, if not denied. Access to and use of our data assets relies on the resilience of our digital networks, which must be able to move more data – and at greater speed and volume.”
At the centre of the programme is the ‘OneDefence Data Platform’, which collates DoD data into a single platform with a common interface. It links together disparate data sources to enable enterprise-wise data catalogues, as well as providing archiving, search, access, and analytics capabilities. The OneDefence Data Platform covers all structured and unstructured enterprise data, although it does not extend to intelligence and surveillance data.
“The ability to seamlessly discover, access, and derive advanced insights from [the DoD’s] vast data assets will drive enhanced preparedness and availability of the integrated, focused force, as well as resource prioritisation and planning in support of the 2024 National Defence Strategy objectives,” the report stated.
Paul Robards, chief data integration officer at the Australian DoD, told Janes in June 2025 that the OneDefence Data Platform is operational, with work under way to grow the data assets available within the platform. He said it would not only provide the means to manage, integrate, catalogue, archive, share, and use data, but would also include tools to support data science, business intelligence and visualisation, and machine learning (ML).
In comparison with its predecessor, the Defence Data Strategy 2.0 has a greater emphasis on “how [the DoD] will use data to enhance military capabilities and achieve decision advantage, which is the ability to make better decisions, faster than any potential adversary”, Robards said. Importantly, it recognises the importance of artificial intelligence (AI), “and the ability of AI to enhance the value of [the DoD’s] data”, he stressed.
Robards said data would be a key enabler for advanced defence capabilities, including the types of technologies prioritised in AUKUS Pillar 2, which covers areas such as AI and autonomy, cyber capabilities, and quantum technologies.
“The Defence Data Strategy 2.0 will enhance [the DoD’s] platforms and capabilities through the inclusion of data as a fundamental input to capability, enhanced data interoperability, the adoption of AI at scale, and the uplift of data skills,” he said. “The strategy will uplift [the DoD’s] data maturity through the growth of a data culture that understands, values, shares, and uses defence data as a strategic asset.”
It is important that the DoD’s future data and analytics capabilities are built on the data available through the OneDefence Data Platform, Robards said. Industry can assist by ensuring that the platform and its data sources are at the core of any future data and analytics activities conducted for the DoD, he added.
“Industry can also assist by adhering to [the DoD’s] relevant data standards, which are designed to ensure data interoperability across the integrated focused force.”
For access to the full feature visit: Feature: Australia adapts to new defence data strategy
Analysis
