Wednesday, November 18, 2026

10:30 AM - 11:30 AM

Swan Room

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Presentation Outline

The acquisition and integration of Australia’s Defence capability will be increasingly constrained not by technology, but by its ability to manage engineering information. As software-defined systems, artificial intelligence, and data centric operations become central to military capability, engineering information remains fragmented across organizations, disciplines, and tools. The transition from the One Defence Capability System to the Defence Capability System provides a critical opportunity to establish the information foundations for the next generation of capability. This paper argues that Defence should establish a common engineering ontology for Communications and Information Systems as the semantic backbone of a digital engineering ecosystem. A shared ontology enables a persistent digital thread across operational needs, requirements, architecture, software, infrastructure, assurance, and sustainment. Far from being a technical exercise, this is a strategic enabler for interoperability, AI-assisted engineering, and evidence-based decision-making. The time to act is now; the decisions made today will shape Defence’s digital engineering trajectory for decades.

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Speaker