Germany’s army chief on AI, drones and the future of the tank | The Economist (Level 1)

Armies around the world must balance old and new technology. A German general recently explained his plan for the German army. He named five key areas to improve quickly. The first is indirect fires, which means better artillery and long-range weapons. The second is counter-UAS, or stopping enemy drones. The third is electromagnetic warfare. The fourth is using manned and unmanned teams: soldiers working with robots. The fifth is AI-enabled command and control, which helps commanders decide faster. The general also believes tanks are still important. But future tanks might be like mother ships for unmanned ground vehicles. He insists that humans must always be in control. Finally, the general said data is like ammunition. There is too much data from sensors everywhere. So the army needs a digital backbone and AI to manage this information and speed up decisions.