KPMG is a strong and reliable partner in the areas of security and defence. Together with our clients, we have already successfully completed numerous projects and studies.
Our extensive experience has resulted in our comprehensive understanding of the challenges and needs of the Bundeswehr.
We support the transformation of the armed forces - from strategy to implementation along the entire value chain.
In doing so, we combine our experience with in-depth industry expertise, technology and innovative approaches.
Below we show how we can support the defence sector holistically in fulfilling its mission and tasks with our user-centric solutions.
Maintain national and alliance defence, develop new technologies and capabilities, shape innovation
There is a great need for action in the German defence sector. This is a key realisation that can be drawn in light of the Russian war of aggression against Ukraine. A lack of ammunition stocks, inefficient armaments processes, a lack of digitalisation: a number of points of criticism are being discussed. Innovation must not bypass the needs of the organisation. Core capabilities of national and alliance defence must be maintained, while at the same time new technologies and capabilities are required. We are making our contribution at your side to implement the necessary steps after the turning point.
Geopolitical upheavals have led to a turning point in foreign and security policy, affecting not only the state and armed forces, but also the economy and society. As a result, most Western armed forces are facing extensive structural and organisational reform - moving away from an exclusive focus on international crisis and conflict management towards conducting operations as part of national and alliance defence.
Furthermore, in a globalised, digitalised and mobile world, conflicts have a different impact than in previous times.
The major challenge of mitigating these difficult-to-anticipate risks as part of the transformation process for national and alliance defence is placing ever-increasing demands on political and military leadership. This creates an additional area of tension between spatial coverage requirements and reduced manpower.
At the same time, there is a growing need for technology-supported solutions. Armed forces that have lean and efficient command structures, redundant and largely self-sufficient supply chain management and qualitatively better and comprehensive command and control capabilities in real time (for example with the help of data-centric warfare) are better positioned for the modern world.
With its proven security policy expertise, many years of experience and innovative approach, KPMG can make a substantial contribution to the successful transformation of the Bundeswehr.
Artificial intelligence (AI) and automation can help to meet the complex challenges of the 21st century with modern means and methods. These aspects also play a role in multi-domain operations and thus the interoperability of different systems. New developments must therefore be initiated across military organisational areas and accompanied by close interaction between defence planning and the simultaneous consideration of future developments.
In an increasingly complex world with growing uncertainty, this requires a holistic view that takes into account all areas of the state, society and the economy that are relevant to defence. KPMG helps to include security-relevant areas from the defence sector to critical infrastructure and society. Redundancies and emergency mechanisms must be set up at all levels in order to develop the ability to act and long-term resilience for critical key sectors in society as a whole. Potential and risk analyses can be used to identify measures to increase interoperability both within the military and with external organisations. The probability of failure can also be reduced through diversification and deployment. Holistic solutions not only promote the resilience of the military organisational apparatus, but also improve social resilience.
In order to survive in high-intensity conflicts, organisational structures need to be simplified and responsibilities and competencies need to be pooled. KPMG advises on making armed forces and organisational units less dependent on shared resources and capabilities and transforming them into independent capability providers
For example, independently operating organisational units can enable the higher command to fulfil its essential coordination and leadership functions without being burdened with delegable secondary and cross-cutting tasks. This will once again enable the armed forces to implement the traditional principles of mission tactics.
With the help of a far-reaching autonomisation of organisational elements in conjunction with the decentralisation of leadership, two goals can be achieved: the complexity of a multi-domain battlespace is reduced and a better and faster response to spontaneous developments and changes in the situation is made possible.
Not only the armed forces but also civil society are confronted with changes as a result of the new era. As part of the "Operation Plan Germany", a national defence plan is being developed under the leadership of the Bundeswehr with the participation of the federal, state and local levels as well as other organisations and companies. As a consultancy firm, we also provide support in adapting to a changing world situation and in safeguarding national and alliance defence.
We make established structures and processes more efficient
The further development of military organisations will also be affected by the rapid development of information technology - especially artificial intelligence - in the coming years. The focus of organisational development should therefore be on simplifying and, where necessary, streamlining established structures and processes in order to make administrative tasks quick and transparent.
We tackle these complex tasks with our clients. Together, we design leaner structures for greater efficiency and make the armed forces fit for the future.
Military organisations have certain characteristics that distinguish them from commercial enterprises, but the acronym VUCA (Volatility' Uncertainty, Complexity, Ambiguity), coined at the United States Army War College (USAWC) in the 1990s, is now the basis of the demand for agility.
For the armed forces themselves, quick decisions based on incomplete information have always been necessary. The proposals of the Prussian army reformers were correspondingly influential in this context, anticipating numerous elements of agile action, which in turn continue to exist today in the Bundeswehr's concept of "mission tactics". In this respect, a central aspect of organisational development should be to adapt the proven principles of Leadership and communication to the rapid development of technology, especially information technology, so that previous principles can continue to lead successfully in the future.
Military organisations include not only combat units, but also administrative units such as the civilian military administration. A conscious decision was made to apply different maxims for action in this sphere. The desire for more entrepreneurship in these authorities leads to a misunderstanding of the military administration's very own tasks: organisational development should focus on simplifying and, if necessary, streamlining established structures and processes in order to make administrative tasks quick and transparent. At the same time, it should be borne in mind that the Defence Administration, as part of the overall organisation, should not carry out administrative tasks for its own purpose, but for the purpose of supporting the existing tasks of the Bundeswehr: The goal comes before the process.
An administration developed in this way can then make a better contribution to ensuring that the military structures and commercial enterprises can provide the necessary agility for their contributions to the rapid and adapted fulfilment of tasks.
The military command and control process includes numerous tasks, the core of which is the processing of large amounts of information. It is particularly important to recognise patterns and bring often contradictory information into a meaningful context and possibly also to question the reliability of incorrectly or incompletely transmitted information when assessing the situation and later monitoring success.
Military leaders also carry out numerous repetitive tasks when evaluating the orders issued by higher-level Leadership and when issuing their own orders. Machines are already clearly superior in all of these tasks. In the future, they will further extend their performance advantage, especially in terms of speed.
Future battle management systems (BMS) will relieve military leaders of as many routine tasks as possible. They will continuously and independently update situation pictures and recognise even unreliable information as such by means of highly developed pattern recognition - not without error, but at least at the level of an officer (who can make human errors). Within certain limits, they will also be able to make generic suggestions on possible courses of action and save the human decision-maker a considerable amount of time.
Depending on the degree of automation, there will then be a greater shift from humans as decision-makers "on the loop" to humans as command-givers "before the loop".
The element of mission tactics has always proved its worth in the confusing and often unpredictable progress of military battles. The observable acceleration of combat operations in particular confirms that mission tactics are an indispensable instrument. Due to the large amount of information available, however, micromanagement is becoming more attractive at higher levels of command. This could be observed, for example, in the deployment of special forces in Afghanistan. The concept of mission tactics may therefore need to be defended even more actively than before.
Each command level is characterised by a certain command span and information processing capacity. How, for example, will the performance of a division commander or his divisional command post change in the future? What contribution do the subordinate brigade commanders and their respective brigade command posts make to decision-making on the basis of his orders? How quickly can battalions and companies react to changes in the situation in the familiar leadership cascade?
According to the new National Security Strategy, Germany sees itself as a hub at the centre of NATO due to its geopolitical position. This means that Germany not only has national logistical tasks, but also international activities in cooperation with and for its partners.
Due to its universal support character, the Bundeswehr logistics system (LogSysBw) contributes to a large number of tasks of the armed forces. With the changes in the security policy environment and the associated emphasis on national and alliance defence (LV/BV), the strengthening of the Bundeswehr's own logistical capabilities and their robust operation at high intensity is becoming increasingly important. In terms of deployability, the coverage of larger areas and the required higher scalability must be taken into account. In particular, greater responsiveness can be supported by technical AI.
Defence administration often faces challenges that are caused by embedded structures and procedures. Although these provide individual security, they can also significantly slow down processes.
Examples of this include safeguarding measures such as co-checks and co-signatures that are implemented even though the facts or decision would be covered by the individual decision-making framework. Instead of speed and goal-orientation, the focus is often on legal certainty. This means that the means is the central element and not the end.
This is where our support comes in: Administrative staff must be empowered to make independent decisions in their area of responsibility. This requires a cultural change, which we support as part of a change management process. More constructive feedback, suitable incentives and appropriate management training should help to place the solution at the centre instead of the purely procedural process.
The Bundeswehr already has an instrument in the form of mission tactics that characterises precisely this culture of personal responsibility and empowerment. The task now is to establish this approach in the administration both mentally and culturally.
National and alliance defence as well as sustainability issues will be key aspects of the future.
Geopolitical upheavals have led to a turning point in foreign and security policy, affecting not only the state and armed forces, but also the economy and society. As a result, most Western armed forces are facing extensive structural and organisational reform - moving away from an exclusive focus on international crisis and conflict management towards the leadership of operations in the context of national and alliance defence.
Well-planned process optimisation can give you a head start in terms of reaction time and speed. The digitalisation of Leadership and administrative tasks supports this. The introduction of automated and networked applications and software for transmitting target data in real time as part of the battle of connected weapons and data-centric warfare combines a more intelligent and cost-effective use of resources with increased efficiency in operational planning. Data Centric Warfare consistently encompasses all military processes from Joint Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance (JISR) to logistics and targeting.
Standardised processes can thus improve the interoperability of armed forces in a multinational network and successfully overcome challenges such as language barriers or divergent organisational structures. With a holistic view, KPMG can support the definition and implementation of standards across organisational areas and countries. These are essential prerequisites for both processes and technology in order to survive in the context of multi-domain operations.
Based on the available data, KPMG supports the development of concepts for the automation of forecasts and planning processes using AI. The same applies to software for analysing big data from the intelligence network. The development and introduction of digital applications can provide a timely and accurate picture of the situation for a more efficient and sustainable control effect, which also includes the anticipation of situation developments and the identification of prescriptive recommendations for action. Our approaches to comprehensive and innovative digitalisation thus give armed forces an information advantage and the ability to react more quickly.
The stable and sustainable development of Germany as a defence location requires
For a better defence industry basis, KPMG provides industry-specific expertise and a view of the supply chain system to help identify the relevant levers and optimisation potential for forward-looking planning. The defence industry base and the areas of key technologies must be set up in such a way that they are resilient to the disruption of global supply chains. Among other things, the model of a state-guaranteed basic capacity utilisation of these industries must be examined in order to be able to scale them up if necessary.
KPMG can contribute to the design of an adjusted procurement management system that prioritises the rapid availability of systems while keeping an eye on actual operational requirements. Our procurement and project management expertise helps to achieve this goal, reduce costs and simplify procurement at the same time. Our legal expertise in procurement law also supports the legally compliant handling of projects, ensures that the armed forces have negotiating power commensurate with their importance and minimises procurement law risks.
Partner, Consulting - Public Sector, Defence & Space, Co-Lead Competence Center Geopolitics & Defence
KPMG AG Wirtschaftsprüfungsgesellschaft
Partner, Consulting - Public Sector, Defence & Space
KPMG AG Wirtschaftsprüfungsgesellschaft
