Defence digitalisation
Defence digitalisation includes cyber capabilities, AI tools, cloud computing, and applications in unmanned and autonomous systems, integrated air and missile defence, command and control, military mobility, logistics, and beyond. The brief analyses the scope and scale of digitalisation in key European countries – the UK, France, Germany, Poland – as well as Taiwan, a friendly Indo-Pacific democracy highly exposed to Chinese coercion. The brief compares and contextualizes this by analysing the scope and scale of defence digitalisation in Russia and China.
Russia and China
China and the U.S. are the global leaders in AI. Chinese AI models have the potential for agentic AI, and the PLA’s modernization is centred on the capability to coerce Taiwan, whether through amphibious invasion or blockade, and beyond that sea control in the Indo-Pacific.
Meanwhile, Russia, a comparative laggard, has caught up to the other major powers, with a combined approach that blends AI, unmanned systems, and legacy capabilities such as artillery and missiles. This approach can also act in a significant area denial capability, which is highly relevant for European rearmament and scenarios of Russian aggression on the eastern flank of the Alliance. Furthermore, Russian war overcapacity is likely to translate to proliferation of military capabilities – including digital tools and expertise – in a post-conflict setting, with serious implications for global stability.
The UK, France, Germany, Poland, and Taiwan
Friendly and allied democracies are racing to modernize and keep pace with this new reality. While developments and advances in digitalisation are encouraging, there are gaps where more can be done to improve allied readiness. This includes accelerating the implementation of cloud computing and the hyperscale secure cloud, sustained investment in unmanned and autonomous systems and counter-drone capabilities, tighter coordination between the public and private sectors, further integration of unmanned ground systems to mitigate personnel shortages, and greater interoperability, including beyond NATO to Indo-Pacific friends and allies.
Recommendations for Europe and synergy with friendly and allied democracies
We present policy recommendations to increase the breadth and depth of defence digitalisation across EU member states, and mindful of synergies with other allied countries like the UK, Norway, and Indo-Pacific democracies. These include assessing long-term Russian proliferation potential, investing in interoperability, improving skilling for the defence industrial base, and developing and procuring specific capabilities in digitalisation, such as specialized drones and AI tools.