The evolution of digital twins in defence and national security

By Ashish Kumar, Managing Director, Optivalue Tek

The upcoming major change in warfare technology could be a new airplane, missile or satellite. It can also be a digital twin. Digital twins are shifting from factory production to military technology, where they make digital copies of aircraft, naval platforms, military sites, communication systems and much more.

This concept is easy to grasp but has a huge positive impact: you first have to create a model in the computer to identify its behavior in a real-world environment later on. For military organizations, change of approach means changing the way they design, test, maintain and use equipment, which is very important, because uncertainty one of the major challenges they face.

From engineering model to defence capability
A digital twin cannot be viewed as just a 3D representation. It brings together engineering data, devices, operational information, IoT, cloud computing and AI in order to form a life-like digital representation of a physical object or system.This distinction is crucial for defence.

Take the fighter aircraft as an example. The digital twin of the fighter jet can integrate the data about engine performance, flight hours, parts’ condition, maintenance history and working conditions into a single information system. Not only does this make it possible to improve maintenance scheduling but also to detect possible failures much earlier.

The US Department of Defense has acknowledged the significance of this method through its Digital Engineering Strategy, which aims to integrate digital models into the whole life cycle of defense systems. As for India, the method might become especially relevant in the face of the ongoing modernization of the country, the need for indigenous production and the growing significance of the life cycle efficiency.

The battlefield can be tested before it is entered
The greater potential, however, exists outside of individual platforms. A modern military operation consists of aircraft, ships, ground forces, communication systems, logistics, satellites, weather, terrain, and cyber systems functioning in synergy. With a digital twin, it is possible to encapsulate most of these aspects in a simulated environment.

Thus, military planners can assess various scenarios before deploying physical resources. For example, what will happen if a communication system fails? What is the effect of disruption in the fuel supply on military operations? What is going to happen if conditions change? How fast will a backup system work?
With the addition of AI, digital twins are now capable of processing massive quantities of data and detecting patterns. Hence, instead of asking the question What is happening?” the question now becomes “What may happen next?”

Maintenance may be the first major payoff
Expensive defence platforms should be maintained at all times, as similarly to buying them, their management is also vital. Predictive maintenance with the help of digital twins can identify problems within equipment and avoid failures. Such an approach can prevent unplanned downtime and make obtaining required resources for maintenance efficient. Moreover, saving money on operation of expensive defence technologies can be as important as purchasing new ones. It is in this moment when the role of digital twins shifts from being a technological trial to an operational decision.

But every digital advantage creates a cyber risk
There is another point of view on the problem.A highly-integrated digital twin has lots of information on engineering performance. Its disruption might lead to wrong evaluation of equipment performance or modelling process.

That is why, it is impossible to use cybersecurity as an addition and feature that can be implemented at any stage of the project’s development. Identity management, secure data transfer, access control, encryption and continuous monitoring should be an inseparable part of the infrastructure of the project from the beginning. Moreover, the mentioned technology can also help in developing cyber resilience.

Different defence agencies might apply separate digital platforms to research attacks on operational technologies, communication systems, and other important elements without disturbing real operation here.

From platforms to national resilience
The advancement may be the formation of digital twins for the whole ecosystem or infrastructure.
A military base operates using electricity, telecommunications, transportation, logistics, and other infrastructures. Digital modelling of these dependencies may allow planners to better comprehend how one system failure can disrupt other systems. This is especially important because the border between national security and critical infrastructure becomes increasingly blurred.

The real advantage will be better decisions
Digital twins are here to stay, even if they won’t replace human strategists, technical specialists and lawmakers. The impact of digital twins depends entirely on data quality, model accuracy and how well humans can use any information provided us.

The emergence of digital twins indicates the demand for specialists capable to speak the language of Artificial Intelligence, cyber security, data, engineering and defence.

The development of digital twins and the defence industry is not in making them sophisticated enough. It should create a virtual platform for making experiments, spotting weak points of the defense and making right choices before it is too late.