System of systems lessons to be learned in the development of air power for the future – a small state’s perspective

Sweden, as a small alliance free state with powerful neighbors, has a military history ofwhat we nowadays call systems of systems thinking. Since the beginning of the Cold War thishas been expressed in an air force on the forefront of exploiting military innovations, not leastwith regard to sensor networks, datalinks, information sharing and distributed decisionmaking. How can this history and the lessons learned come to use when future systems andtechnologies are to be developed to meet the uncertain future and changing threats? How doesthis fit with current trends such as capability-based approach and system of systemsengineering methodology? What could this mean for the development of the next generationfighter aircraft - after the Gripen E and contemporary aircraft? These questions have beenstudied from both a government and industry perspective, following the trend in the defensesector of a more intertwined relationship between the two, necessitated by adopting acapability view on aircraft development. This paper presents preliminary lessons identifiedfrom a case study on the project Flygvapnet 2000 (FV2000), which preceded the Net CentricWarfare era at the turn of the millennium. The analysis was based on characteristics of bestpractice systems of systems engineering derived from a review of literature presenting themethodology theory on capability-based approaches for analyzing, acquiring, developing, andmanaging military capabilities. The findings from this project will contribute to thedevelopment of systems of systems engineering methods and will spur proposals for futureresearch.