Vanguard Magazine

ArMY With technology evolving exponentially, National Defence will continue to research and adopt the latest technology to remain ahead of its adversaries on the battlefield. To remain a contender, the Canadian Armed Forces (CAF) must adopt these technologies as they become mainstream. This is inherently a part of the progress of industrial revolutions. As we continue to embark on the fourth industrial revolution - Industry 4.0 – we will see technologies like cloud computing, Big Data, the Internet of Things, and AI evolving. Of all the emerg- ing technologies that fall under Industry 4.0, one can argue that the true fourth in- dustrial revolution will indeed be AI. Our ability to comprehend the future and to appreciate its impact on the way defence is conducted is critical for the suc- cess of National Defence. It is difficult, however, to truly imagine how the next 30 years will unfold, in particular on the topic of AI. By way of comparison, picture a soldier falling asleep in 1884 only to be awakened in 1916 in the middle of World War I, he would witness technological advances such as the machine gun, long- range indirect fire artillery, airplanes, field phones and the early beginnings of tanks. Although certain concepts and elements of these technological advances existed in 1881, the achievements of technology ob- served by the time-traveling soldier will be unimaginable. In the same manner, I will attempt to capture elements that partial- ly exist today, and which will completely change the battlefield in 2050. the tactical Ground Battlefield of 2050 In 2015, the US Army Research Laboratory assembled experts, intellectuals, and leaders from the public, private and academic sectors to envision the future of the tactical ground battlefield in 2050. The group identified some future capabilities that will influence the battlefield of the future and will un- doubtedly play a pivotal function in the fu- ture of AI and the Canadian Army (CA). Augmented Humans The augmented human soldier will be a soldier that is "physically and mentally augmented with enhanced capabilities that improve their ability to sense their environ- ment, make sense of their environment, and interact with one another, as well as with unenhanced humans, automated pro- cesses, and machines of various kinds." This soldier will be augmented with cog- nitive skills, acute vision, and auditory skills, physical enhancement with the help of exoskeletons and computer-assisted decision-making processes. In essence, the augmented human soldier will be smarter, stronger, and able to integrate himself into a network of systems. Due to the advanced abilities of augmented human soldiers, the need for traditional soldiers will be less in the battlefield of the future. Automated Decision Making and Autonomous Processes The decision-making process that com- manders make daily during a battle is critical to the success of a mission. The battlefield of the future will be significantly automated allowing for decision agents to be integrated into Command and Control (C2), the Operational Planning Process (OPP), the Intelligence Preparation of the Battlespace (IPB), the understanding of Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnais- sance (ISR), and Battle Damage Assess- ment (BDA). These agents will conduct tasks such as "filtering information, fact- checking, fusion, dynamic access control (determining who has access to what in- formation), and adaptive information dissemination (who should receive spe- cific pieces of information and/or notifica- tions)." The battlefield of the future will have many sensors deployed for collecting information. The simplest forms are micro- aerial sensors that collect information and remotely send them back to headquarters. Humans will not be able to process, un- derstand, analyse and prioritise the inflow of data from thousands of sensors, as such, automated agents will be capable of under- standing the commander's mission intent and thereby task-specific sensors to deliver mission-specific information. These agents will then sort through the information and discard useless intelligence while retaining what's most relevant and pertinent. Misinformation as a Weapon With the abundance of information from sensors, operators will work in an infor- mation-rich environment. This may cause an information overload in certain cases Our ability to compre- hend the future and to appreciate its impact on the way defence is conducted is critical for the success of National Defence. It is difficult, however, to truly imagine how the next 30 years will unfold, in particular on the topic of AI. www.vanguardcanada.com JUNE/JULY 2020 13

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