According to the Department of Defence and Defence Forces Strategy
Statement 2011-2014 1: ‘The Department of Defence and Defences Forces
can contribute to economic recovery through collaboration with private sector
businesses in the areas of research innovation and development, business
start ups with the potential to contribute to employment creation’.
1. The Defence Forces are important buyers of high tech equipment and
services. While always complying with best practice in procurement and EU
procurement law, the Defence Forces should use their buying power to
promote Irish high tech suppliers, including start ups.
2. To this end, and drawing on the example of the US Office of Naval Research,
the Defence Forces and in particular the Naval Service, should develop a
Science and Technology Strategic Plan to prioritise areas that could profitably
be developed by Irish high tech suppliers in conjunction with the Third Level
research sector. Funding should be made available to implement such a
Science and Technology plan to support the development of the advanced
electronics, communications, surveillance and navigational tools that the
Defence Forces will require.
3. Making use of the continued rapid advances in computing, power and energy,
robotics, sensors and position guidance, fully autonomous unmanned
systems that can operate in all required domains should be used by the Naval
Service/Defence Forces as part of an integrated hybrid Force using manned
and unmanned systems with the ability to sense, comprehend, predict,
communicate, plan, make decisions and take appropriate actions to achieve
its goals. The employment of such systems will reduce risk to human assets
and increase their capabilities in future.
4. The Naval Service needs technologies designed to observe, model and
predict air, ocean, shore and terrestrial environments, and detect
underwater/aerial and land threats. This capability can be enabled as part of
the national Science and Technology agenda that should support earth
system research and innovation. The Naval Services/Defence Forces should
continue to partner and become more involved in national Science and
Technology initiatives such as the Science Foundation Ireland Research
Centers.
5. Consistent with the ongoing requirement for security and the needs of the
Forces, the Defence Forces should, when and where possible, make
available appropriate facilities under its control to work with Irish public and
private research organizations to advance the national R and D agenda (cf.
Fig. 1). The Defence Forces should in the modern world be high tech, flexible
and multi-purpose working in a highly integrated way with the Government
and Civil Society.
6. As an example, the new naval ships with dynamic positioning can be used to
deploy a range of scientific instrumentation in a cost effective manner given
the potential for scientific missions to ‘piggy back’ on the relatively frequent
and routine surveillance missions operated by the Naval Service throughout
the year.
7. Continuous up-skilling and academic advancement should be a goal for all of
the Defence Forces given the increasingly complex operating environment
1
DEPARTMENT OF DEFENCE AND DEFENCE FORCES, STRATEGY STATEMENT 2011 –
2014, Department of Defence and Defence Forces 2012 - http://www.defence.ie/
and technologies at their disposal. NUI Galway is willing to partner with the
Defence Forces to deliver fit for purpose courses. The human resource
contained within the Defence Forces is not only important during service but
has a major positive effect on Irish society post service through the transfer of
skills and professional attitude.
8. In 2012, the Marine Institute on behalf of the Government published
‘Harnessing our Ocean Wealth: An Integrated Marine Plan for Ireland 2’. In
the report, the Government recognised that developing our ocean wealth
could be a key component of our economic recovery leading to sustainable
growth through the generation of social, cultural and economic benefits for all
our citizens. Accordingly the Government set out two ambitious targets for the
plan: 1) to exceed €6.4 billion a year in turnover from our maritime sectors by
2020, and 2) a doubling of their contribution to GDP to 2.4% a year by 2030.
Ireland has the largest marine to land ratio in NW Europe and ‘enjoys’ some
of the most hostile sea conditions in the world. Mastering these conditions to
develop our undoubted natural resources will require maritime ‘know-how’.
The Naval Service with its knowledge of maritime logistics, cadre of highly
trained and experienced mariners and marine engineers, is centrally
positioned to become a key enabler of the Government’s vision by filling the
gap in human resources and experience that will be experienced when the
anticipated growth in the fledgling Irish marine industry sector gets underway.
Figure 1. The LE Emer delivering vital Remotely Operated Vehicle (ROV) spare parts to the Celtic Explorer during an
NUI Galway led, first Irish expedition to explore deep-sea features revealed by the Irish National Seabed Survey.
Dr Anthony Grehan
Ryan Institute for Environmental, Marine and Energy Research
2
Harnessing Our Ocean Wealth – An Integrated Marine Plan for Ireland, July 2012 at http:www.ouroceanwealth.ie.
NUI Galway