Research Themes

Technology

This research theme maps the design, development, and operation of weapons systems with automated and autonomous features over time. Entries are based on our qualitative data catalogues of different types of existing weapons systems as researched by the AutoNorms team. 

Articles on technology

China

Can Track II Dialogues be the New “Ping-Pong” Diplomacy to Thaw the Sino-US Relationship on Military AI?

China and the US find themselves increasingly enmeshed in a deteriorating relationship as the two countries contest for primacy across many fields. Both Beijing and Washington view technological leadership, especially an edge in artificial intelligence (AI), as vital to gaining an upper-hand in this intensified power contest. As the two

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Technology

The New Fog of War: Algorithms, Computer Vision, and Weapon Systems

War is the realm of uncertainty; three quarters of the factors on which action in war is based are wrapped in a fog of greater or lesser uncertainty. A sensitive and discriminating judgment is called for; a skilled intelligence to scent out the truth. — Carl von Clausewitz (1832) [1873] The

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Technology

Shortening the Kill Chain with Artificial Intelligence

This post has been guest written by Jennifer Rooke. Jennifer’s author information has been included at the end of this post. In a speech at the Air Force Association’s annual Air, Space & Cyberspace Conference held on 20 September 2021, US Secretary of the Air Force Frank Kendall stated (at

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Technology

Drones in Afghanistan: Not a Technological “Silver Bullet”

[A shorter version of this piece was published in the German-language ct Magazin für Computertechnik in September 2021, Ingvild Bode & Tom Watts] The United States and its NATO partners have ignominiously withdrawn from Afghanistan. One of this war’s many legacies will be the use of remotely piloted aircraft – colloquially referred to as

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