Foreword by Peer Chr Anderssen

Director, Head of DNV Business Assurance, Norway

There are many ways of explaining and justifying the need and consequences of having military forces. This is probably a philosophical as well as a political question, but should also inspire and justify in-depth discussions from a business perspective. This should clearly be relevant for those of us being involved in the defence industry. We all have values we should live and acknowledge. If we, as companies, clarify our own values in terms of business ethics and practices in the defence arena, we will definitely add more value and be more predictable and long-term partners in this case for the Norwegian Defence.

There is a broad consensus in most countries that we need to have military forces, mainly for national protection and security purposes. So in spite of the dilemmas involved most people accept and also appreciate that we have efficient and effective military forces. The word dilemma comes to mind since military forces also are being used for aggressive purposes within different political agendas where lives are lost.

But dealing with dilemmas is inherent in everything that is human. DNV appreciates the role of the Norwegian Defence as an important vehicle for peace and security, and we have for decades been providing services and relevant competencies to the Norwegian Defence.

The purpose we have in DNV; “Safeguarding Life, Property and the Environment” is of course relevant in this discussion and explains to some extent why DNV in Norway focus on the defence market in addition to traditional key areas as maritime and energy. We also acknowledge that the Norwegian Defence represents a challenging customer with complex technological platforms with long lifespan that are put to the test in some of the world’s roughest climates. This implies a range of different risk management challenges, and there is an ambition for DNV to contribute as a preferred partner in these areas and on these issues, representing the core of DNV.

“Evne til innsats” or as it might be phrased and translated “Capabilities for Action” is the title of the new strategic concept that the Ministry for Defence in Norway issued in September this year. The document provides insight and understanding of what are the main strategic issues in the Norwegian Defence and what priorities and initiatives that are needed to maintain and develop a relevant defence capacity in a modern democracy.

An impression from reading the document is that the ability to change as well as the flexibility to meet new challenges and scenarios are among the most important success factors for the Norwegian military forces.

Some examples from chapter 5.3 in the document: Use of new technology

• The technological development contributes to change the way weapons, equipment and military forces operate
• The ability to understand, exploit and shape the technological development is of key importance both in military operations as well as long-term defence planning
• Risk scenarios and the technological development are both pointing in the same direction. A relevant defence force must have a technological standard that will make it capable of operating, efficient and effectively, alone or together with allied forces
• Increased capacity as a result of new technology will in some situations and combat environments represent a decisive and necessary factor

These issues highlighted in the strategy concept demonstrate the strategic importance of technology for the Norwegian Defence in its willingness and efforts to develop and adapt to the current world situation. In order to get as much defence capability as possible out of the national defence budget, Norwegian Defence must ensure cost effective utilization of technology at all levels of the organization. Increased complexity introduces new challenges and risks in all phases of how to manage technology and its integration with the defence organization.

To manage these risks and challenges, ensuring national resilience in the times of crisis and war, the Norwegian Defence is dependent upon a well-working and vibrant national defence industry. The partnership between the Norwegian Defence and the national defence industry must be based upon trust and confidence, allowing all potential stakeholders to be involved and perform at their peak. This calls for a model for sharing of roles and responsibilities among the stakeholders, adapted to our particular technological and economical environment. A common understanding, including development and implementation of such a model will be one of the key success factors in making the future Norwegian Defence more agile and cost effective.

The Norwegian defence industry will have to take their share of responsibility for making this partnership work. Potential and existing industry partners to the Norwegian Defence must understand which technologies are relevant for their customer and to what extent it should be utilized. Focusing not only on maximizing sales, but ensuring world class utilization through their products life cycle, will create success stories that reinforce the highly needed trust and confidence and ensures further development of the partnership between the Norwegian Defence and the defence industry.

This will give excellent reference cases and demonstrate Norwegian technology capabilities that can ensure sales and reuse of the technology in other markets and geographical areas. Such co-operation will bring competitive advantages for the Norwegian defence industry as well as secure continued best-in-class technological support to the Norwegian defence in the future.

The needs of the Norwegian Defence for relevant and competent industry partners will increase in line with accelerating technological complexity in military systems and platforms. The defence industry in Norway will need a challenging and demanding customer in our home market to be able to co-operate, but also compete with dominant and increasingly more competent players in the international defence industry.

So far the business climate and its challenges in Norway have allowed the Norwegian defence industry to develop world class technology in pockets of areas. There are many examples of technology and competence that can be utilized by defence organizations and defence industry in other geographical locations. Hopefully a continued partnership between the Norwegian Defence and Norwegian defence industry, underpinned by the white paper “The Armed Forces and Industry – strategic partners” (Stort.meld. nr. 38, 2006 – 2007), will ensure that Norwegian technology and competence are relevant also in the future.