Germany’s armed forces have signed a €1.7 billion contract with Rheinmetall for access to satellite-based reconnaissance data with regular radar images supplied through a partnership with Finnish satellite operator ICEYE.
France’s DGA has selected Airbus Defence and Space for a framework contract of up to €50 million to integrate artificial intelligence into French military systems, beginning with upgrades to the Spationav maritime surveillance network and expanding into intelligence, cybersecurity and communications.
The U.S. War Department has rolled out GenAI.mil, a new generative AI platform featuring Google’s Gemini for Government, making advanced AI tools available to all military and civilian personnel, marking a major move towards an AI-enabled workforce.
The German military plans to create six new units to operate kamikaze drones by 2029, with plans for a data-driven, AI-enabled battlefield. The Bundeswehr is testing loitering munitions and aims to field its first medium-range battery by 2027, with further long-range systems to follow.
The Bolt VTOL drone does not require any dedicated launch equipment and can operate from congested environments. It can be unpacked and airborne in under five minutes and loaded with a range of anti-personnel and anti-materiel warheads.
According to Airbus, ‘In military aviation, a Wingman is a pilot in another aircraft that protects and supports the flight lead, delivers more tactical options and thus contributes to mission success. In the Airbus concept, the Wingman is going to operate very much in the same way – only that it is neither a pilot nor a fighter jet flown by one. It is a fighter-type drone that will be commanded by a pilot in a current combat aircraft such as the Eurofighter and can take on high-risk mission tasks that would pose a bigger threat to manned-only aircraft.’
Last year, Russia sent its Vityaz unmanned submarine to the deepest depths in the ocean and surveyed the Mariana Trench, at a depth of more than 11 kilometres. This is how the Rubin Design Bureau did it.
Supriyo Gupta warns of a coming Artificial Intelligence apartheid, akin to the nuclear, missile and supercomputer apartheid India faced and argues that India should get ahead of AI apartheid through fighter technology.
DRDO has conducted research in 87 project/fields over the last three years.
