After more than 20 years since EU member states first discussed the idea of a quick response military instrument, EU Battlegroups are again regaining visibility due to the current institutional efforts to move forward in security and defence.
A new era for the British Armed Forces is about to begin. On 22 March, the Government of the United Kingdom officially released its Integrated Review of Security, Defence, Development and Foreign Policy, which will define the government’s vision for the UK’s role in the world over the next decade.
Modernisation of military equipment is vital to improve armies’ performances and capabilities; it makes soldiers more efficient, increasing the chances of having a successful mission with fewer casualties. Even though modernisation requires huge investments, it aims at reducing the operations’ future costs and mission-related risks notably associated with service members’ safety and protection.
The development of new Artificial Intelligence (AI) in the military domain is speeding up the weaponry revolution, providing the armed forces with brand-new technological equipment. In recent years, governments all around the globe invested billions in research projects to enhance their armed forces’ combat capabilities through the development of AI, including Autonomous Weapons System (AWS). Since armies began deploying robotic armaments, there has been a heated debate over their benefits and detriments. In this regard, on December 15, 2020, the Finabel Permanent Secretariat hosted a webinar dedicated to “Autonomous Systems: The Future of Warfare?”, to analyse the opportunities, challenges and the overall trend of AWS. Relevant experts attended the conference, including General Riho Terras ( Chairman of the Supervisory Board of Milrem Robotics, Member of the European Parliament and former Commander of the Estonian Defence Forces), Professor Lode Lauwaert (Institute of Philosophy, KU Leuven) and Nicholas Nelson (Senior Technology Advisor at Georgia Tech Research Institute).
Reconnaissance can be described as ‘the act of real-time observation of a certain place, person, group or ongoing activity to gather information’. In defence matters, robots are mainly used for reconnaissance operations to avoid putting soldiers in dangerous situations. As robot development is evolving at increasingly high speed, the market for this specific segment of the defence industry has been heating up. Development has reached a new high at the end of 2020, marked by the new update of Rheinmetall’s new Armed reconnaissance vehicle for high-security scouting missions.
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