![]() Research by the Center for Strategic and International Studies showed that Azerbaijan had a massive edge in loitering munitions, with more than 200 units of four sophisticated Israeli designs. "It was shown how difficult it is to fight against these systems." "They also had been used in some way or form before - but here, they really showed their usefulness," Franke explained. Once they detect a target, they fly into it, destroying it on impact with an onboard payload of explosives hence the nickname "kamikaze drones." ![]() Once launched, they fly to a defined target area, where they "loiter," scanning for targets - typically air defense systems. 'Loitering munitions' saw action in the 2020 Nagorno-Karabakh war Image: DW Bombs that loiter in the airĪdvanced loitering munitions models are capable of a high degree of autonomy. "The really important aspect of the conflict in Nagorno-Karabakh, in my view, was the use of these loitering munitions, so-called 'kamikaze drones' - these pretty autonomous systems," said Ulrike Franke, an expert on drone warfare at the European Council on Foreign Relations. But for those paying attention, this was a watershed in warfare. It looked like a textbook regional conflict, with Azerbaijan and Armenia fighting over the disputed region of Nagorno-Karabakh. ![]() In late 2020, as the world was consumed by the pandemic, festering tensions in the Caucasus erupted into war. German Foreign Minister Heiko Maas: 'We have to forge international treaties on new weapons technologies' Image: DW Watershed war Much further down the pecking order of global power, this new era is a battle-tested reality. "Īs Russian President Vladimir Putin put it as early as 2017, "whoever becomes the leader in this sphere will become the ruler of the world."īut it's not only great powers piling in. It speaks of a "new warfighting paradigm" pitting "algorithms against algorithms," and urges massive investments "to continuously out-innovate potential adversaries."Īnd you can see it in China's latest five-year plan, which places AI at the center of a relentless ramp-up in research and development, while the People's Liberation Army girds for a future of what it calls " intelligentized warfare. This is apparent in a recent report from the United States' National Security Commission on Artificial Intelligence.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |