From Drones to AI: The Future of Global Military Engagement

AI takes contemporary warfare to another level by offering smart guidance of munitions, analytical functions, and even independent decision-making while boosting the security of communications and threat identification.

The technological progress that has taken place in the recent past and perhaps the most recent advancements that have occurred in the 21st century have highly influenced warfare in its tactics and even its definition. Technology has taken the world by storm and has been developing at an alarming rate in things like biotechnology, robotics, artificial intelligence, and information technology, whereby the advancement has been most revolutionary. IT continues to improve data sharing, real-time information, and precision instruments like computers, satellites, the internet, and UAVs that enable commanders to make quick decisions based on satellite perception. UGVs, UUVs, and UAVs are now logistical support, strike, and reconnaissance. Robotics and autonomous vehicles now conduct transport, attack, and surveillance. AI takes contemporary warfare to another level by offering smart guidance of munitions, analytical functions, and even independent decision-making while boosting the security of communications and threat identification. Both biotechnology and biometrics could enhance military forces and the state’s ability to treat illnesses and enhance the population’s well-being, but they are associated with ethical and legal problems. The contemporary war setting is defined by hybrid threats that are attributed to asymmetric warfare, cyber threats, and attacks from non-state and, sometimes, non-traditional state actors. To this end, it is important for military forces to constantly update their approaches regarding technological advancements while also striving to stay ethical, legal, and strategic. Its purpose is to disseminate information to government decision-makers, the armed forces, and the defense sciences on how to utilize modern technologies as tools without compromising the security of a nation or ethics.

In this article the Politics and War relation in the context of the conception of the twentieth century with reference to the theories is discussed. It does this by comparing realism whose tenets argue that all the states are involved in conflict in an orthodox manner to liberalism which postulates that the western states or the democratic states do not use force to set international relations. It presupposes that via beliefs, interests, personality traits and geopolitical characteristics political decisions influence the beginning of a military conflict in the same way that a cannon’s muzzle does in the case of a clash. The interconnection of culture and anthropology is also mentioned the more integrated nations appear to be more hostile in their demeanor. This aspect of the globalization of warfare after World War II: with special reference to nations of the west, particularly, the United States as the agents of liberal democracy emerges from the article in analysis. It exudes the presence of political dimensions as far as concern involvement in combat actions it posits that the fight for democracy and liberty required war. It raised its technical, economic and social faces over time, making it progressively probable and intensive due to historical re-exertion of exertions and changeover of powers. To explain this, one has to refer to World War II that was the turning point that saw the science coming in, as in the Fido torpedo. Following the war, the military and science continued to work together in order to produce engineering which in turn produced military and civil technology. In the position of women during the war, there is a positive shade of recognition as having served a purpose of enhancing diversity in science. Still, in the years before the First World War there were indications that the emphasis on the attacking formations would be shifted into the background, however the notions of attack persisted. Of these, the transporter and striking capacities switched with tanks after the Great War. War of world already revolutionized the industrialized world through the adoption of blitzkrieg concept which included speed. In fact, IT has positively influenced the warfare pattern and the warfare strategy since the 1970s with high concentration on the higher degree of precision, flexibility, and to some extent on the essential functions of equipment, this warfare doctrine is referred as to the U. S. Airland Battle.

Modern warfare differs from past conflicts because of changes in encounter systems and the integration of cyberspace as an operational environment. Cyberwarfare facilitates spying, criminal activities, and the ability to manipulate major infrastructures in society, for example, power supplies, monetary markets, and telecommunications systems. It is effective and rapid; however, the effectiveness of the thematic option is still an object of dispute. While some people considered it a new form of warfare that totally differs from the traditional warfare system, other people considered it a new form of exercising power projection in the conventional warfare system. The principles that Clausewitz has chosen, involving the application of violence in order to achieve the opponent’s surrender, can be successfully applied for cyber warfare activities aimed at the destruction of critical facilities.

The legal and ethical aspects of cyber warfare include a combination of elements that are subjective, and its use is a sensitive subject that requires ultimate discretion by the participating states. AI-DSSs can and do improve the tactical and operational understanding of a conflict environment and help make better decisions, yet they also come with their drawbacks, notably bias, deception, and accountability. Detractors point to the risks attached to reliance on AI, while with AI-DSS, the result is faster, more transparent, and compliant with the legal requirements for decisions made under the supervision of people. Due to the increased decision-making autonomy of equipment, technologies like drones and autonomous weapons are considered highly objectionable since they require little human intervention. The status of regulations is slower than the progress of technologies; therefore, they cause debates on the use of such technologies all over the world. In the United Nations, there have been demands for an outright prohibition of the development of autonomous weapons, but the United States has no clear set of rules and regulations that explicitly prohibit the development and use of such weapons. Hence, human supervision holds great importance for ethical and legal consideration in force choices. These technologies could become cheaper, but they now pose a threat to democracy and make societies desensitized to acts of violence.

The idea of the Revolution in Military Affairs (RMA) is to emphasize the effects of the new technology on warfare, including smart bombs, precision-guided heavy bombers, and other systems of network-centric warfare. These advancements are believed to increase effectiveness and minimize collateral damage in the war zone. However, there is a great deal of controversy regarding the argument that these technologies transform the character of war. According to classical theorists, there is no change in the nature of war, even if a lot has changed with the advent of technology. One can explain the fact that such principles remain valid by using historical examples, like the English longbow, for example. Douhet’s strategic bombing theory during World War II showed how even technology as a strategy is a double-edged affair; it can build up rather than dampen the morale of the enemy. Similarly, there is a focus on the informational aspect as an enabler of military command in network-centric warfare, but this concept is viewed skeptically due to information technology security and various unresolved operational problems in contemporary conflict. This could be seen when addressing the events of the Yom Kippur War and assessing how relying solely on technology was unbeneficial. Despite advanced technology, Israel appears to have suffered from intelligence failure as well as the inability to deviate from the set doctrines. The clash presented various aspects of subjective human decision-making and flexibility. The war was a reminder that technology cannot win a war on its own as much as leadership and determination supported by technology proved decisive in the victory that Israel achieved. Military strategy, therefore, has to factor in the size and strength that technology brings, as well as the remarkable human brain, discretion, and adjustable tactics needed to meet given threats. These arguments apply to the current debate on the imperative to advance the use of technologies without losing sight of the core warfare principles.

Mohammad Umar
Mohammad Umar
Student from the Department of Strategic Studies at the National Defense University, Islamabad