International conference on military technologies in Tallinn focuses on AI

2024-01-25
BNS/TBT Staff

TALLINN – An international military technology conference held in Tallinn, which focused on the challenges of military technologies in the context of small states, concluded on Thursday.

One of the main speakers of the conference, former German Army commander and chief of NATO's Allied Joint Force Command Brunssum, retired Gen. Jörg Vollmer, focused in his presentation on the role of military artificial intelligence in future warfare.

The second keynote speaker, Professor Wolfgang Koch, a researcher at the Fraunhofer Institute for Communication, Information Processing and Ergonomics, as well as the University of Bonn, discussed in his presentation the lessons and challenges related to the development of military artificial intelligence.

In addition to key topics of artificial intelligence, the two-day conference discussed the challenges of joint operations and electronic warfare, possible models for cooperation with smaller defense industries, and the funding of research and development.

The chief of the Estonian Military Academy, Brig. Gen. Vahur Karus, emphasized the importance of system compatibility, standardization and user-friendliness in his presentation on future warfare.

Other speakers in the presentations and panels included members of the military and researchers from the Estonian Military Academy, Tallinn University of Technology, University of Bonn, King's College London, Warsaw University of Technology, Royal United Services Institute and the Fraunhofer Institute of Communication, Information Processing and Ergonomics. As well as experts from the Ukrainian theater, the NATO Innovation Fund, and the defense industry.

More than 320 people from 19 countries, including representatives from the defense forces and ministries of defense of several countries, executives of the defense industry, as well as security experts from NATO, the EU and research institutions involved in the development of military technologies attended the Tallinn conference.