Knowledge Management in the Defense Sector

Knowledge management includes identifying, capturing, evaluating, retrieving, and sharing knowledge and experiences in organizations. It is a concept from the late 80s in the previous century, because modern information technology has raised the options and scope for these processes. While the core tasks of the organizations in the defense sector and particularly of the armed forces are focused on warfighting, a lot of support assets, activities and people are needed to enable it. A good knowledge management is one of them. Especially, management knowledge in complex operational/military environments should enhance the effectiveness of situational awareness systems. Four approaches to knowledge management in the defense sector are exposed: lessons learned capabilities, publications, libraries, and cooperation with the academic sphere. The chapter reveals a deficit in the concept of defense management; it does not include the formal knowledge adopted outside the organizations in the education system. Therefore, the professional military education and its (dis)advantages are also discussed to show the importance of proper PME management and its connection to knowledge management.