BERLIN: Germany’s military is evaluating 30 artificial intelligence tools as it seeks to accelerate battlefield decision-making, with a prototype expected by the second quarter of 2027 and full implementation targeted for 2028, a senior military official said.
Vice Admiral Thomas Daum, head of Germany’s military cyber command, told Handelsblatt that the evaluation of the AI systems is ongoing and expressed confidence that a prototype could be ready in the second quarter of next year.
The initiative reflects growing military interest in AI as modern battlefields generate increasing volumes of data from drones, satellites, surveillance systems and other sources. The German military is seeking technology capable of processing this information faster than human operators and improving situational awareness and decision-making.
Why is Germany turning to AI for battlefield decisions?
The war in Ukraine has demonstrated the growing importance of drones and satellites in collecting large amounts of battlefield data. Military planners increasingly rely on automated systems to process imagery, video and other information rapidly.
Germany’s planned AI system is intended to help commanders analyse such data and make decisions more quickly in increasingly data-intensive combat environments.
Will Germany rely on US-made AI technology?
Most of the systems under evaluation are reportedly being developed by German companies, while French firm ChapsVision is among the few foreign companies competing for the programme.
Daum said in April that Germany was not currently planning to acquire the Maven Smart System, a prominent battlefield AI platform developed by US data analytics and defence software company Palantir.
The US military, NATO commands and several allied countries are already using Palantir’s Maven system to analyse battlefield data, including images and video.
Concerns over dependence on US technology and data sovereignty have contributed to resistance to Palantir’s systems in parts of Europe, particularly amid uncertainty over the future of US commitment to NATO under President Donald Trump.