Modernising your defence infrastructure through digital technology

An unpredictable geopolitical landscape and a sustained increase in UK defence spending look to be having a significant impact on the defence sector. In addition, the need to modernise defence facilities, make sustainable long-term upgrades, and increase your infrastructure’s resilience to growing environmental threats means it’s crucial every investment you make is the right one.

In this blog, we will explore some of the latest thinking around how to modernise facilities and infrastructure using digital tools to make them more resilient, sustainable, and ready to meet a wide range of growing threats, whilst maintaining efficient base operations.

An end-to-end view is vital to ensure sustainable naval base developments

Defence assets cannot remain static. Large-scale infrastructure upgrades require significant investment. With tight budgetary constraints to consider, every investment needs to offer long-term value and maximise the lifespan of your assets.

Taking an end-to-end view of your naval infrastructure means you can ensure new investments will still be suitable in decades to come. What’s more, keeping a firm grasp on the proper maintenance of your existing assets with a strategic approach to asset management will make it easier to maintain their performance, support your day-to-day operations, and keep your fleet and personnel safe and secure.

Appropriate digital transformation can increase the effectiveness of your operations

Modernising operations can be a challenge when you are dealing with a complex mix of stakeholders, diverse supply chains, and an evolving technology landscape. However, incorporating the right digital solutions into your defence facility will build its resilience and create a more productive and attractive working and living environment for your personnel.

Automating some of your processes can reduce human error and running costs and increase productivity. In addition, including digital tools such as Witness predictive simulation and digital twin technologies in your strategy will help you spot asset faults early and find new opportunities to significantly enhance your current and future operations by:

• Informed decision-making: Virtual replicas of physical assets and systems allow defence organisations to simulate and analyse various scenarios in real-time. These detailed insights into potential outcomes and operational efficiencies will help you make informed, strategic, and timely decisions before your projects get underway.


• Improving stakeholder communication: When key stakeholders have access to timely, transparent updates on infrastructure projects, work and upgrades can be appropriately scheduled during low-activity periods – minimising disruption. Additionally, simulating "what-if" scenarios helps stakeholders visualise the impact of different decisions and strategies.


• Optimising logistics and supply chain management: By integrating Witness predictive simulation with digital twin capabilities, you continuously monitor inventory levels, transportation routes, and delivery timelines to enhance your overall logistical precision.


• Reducing costs and enhancing resource allocation: By harnessing and analysing vast amounts of data, digital solutions help you understand complex systems' behaviours and implement impactful maintenance strategies and lifecycle management. This results in significant cost reductions and more effective resource allocation.

Ensure infrastructure upgrades do not disrupt your daily operations

While protecting and upgrading your infrastructure is crucial to support the future of your operations, it is equally important that you maintain operational output while any infrastructure projects are ongoing.

We understand that it’s paramount that any infrastructure upgrades you make to your defence facility must not disrupt your base’s daily operations, your personnel, or the wider community. We use our deep expertise as a leading independent engineering consultant and our extensive understanding of the unique needs of the defence sector to find the right infrastructure and digital initiatives to better serve your facility in the long term, while minimising disruption in the short term.

Learn more about the challenges facing defence facilities, and our approach to solving them

For more information on how to prioritise defence infrastructure investments, and implement them in a way that maximises long-term value while minimising short-term disruption, take a look at our defence hub. There you’ll find more information on how you can create a sustainable, resilient, and modern defence facility.

Discover our approach to defence facilities.