Statement German MoD

As the Federal Ministry of Defence’s appointed representative for the Future Combat Air System (FCAS), I am very delighted about the initiative in conjunction with AG Technikverantwortung – the Expert panel on the responsible use of technologies.

The word ‘future’ in particular encompasses many dimensions of meaning. It stands for new technologies, but also for the new environment in which such a system will have to operate. And it also represents the dimension of time – the time we must invest in developing new technologies and in studying the various issues that will arise as a result of these new technologies. The Federal Ministry of Defence fully welcomes the opportunity to debate these questions and wishes to be an active participant.

What is FCAS? The core of FCAS is the Next Generation Weapon System (NGWS), comprising a manned fighter aircraft and linked unmanned components. The fighter aircraft and unmanned components alone will already feature countless technical innovations. The real quantum leap, however, will come from their connection and joint operation. FCAS will then combine the NGWS and other airborne platforms, such as reconnaissance resources, tankers, transporters as well as previous generations of fighter aircraft that will still be in use.

For the Ministry of Defence, the objective is clear. The NGWS and FCAS are being developed to make a key contribution to the Bundeswehr’s capability profile, strictly in line with our mission and our commitments. To get there many challenges have to be faced. In particular, there are ethical, legal and political issues that have to be dealt with, and we seek to do this at an early stage to provide hints to the technical development process.

FCAS will definitely incorporate technologies like AI,Combat Cloud and automated sub-systems. Those raise a number of complex issues even in the civil environment. When it comes to military applications, they acquire a further dimension, where the concern is not only about highly sensitive data but ultimately about performing a mission in high or extremely high-threat situations, about protecting our military personnel and making life-or-death decisions.

The Federal Ministry of Defence represents an approach of responsible management of new technologies, and will accept no lesser principle than that of human decision-making as being solely accountable for weapons deployment. The question arises, however, as to how humans can implement this principle in the FCAS/NGWS, what technological tools we offer them and what limits we place on technology.

I am very grateful to Airbus Defence and Space GmbH as one of the German prime contractors for the future system, and to the Fraunhofer Institute for Communication, Information Processing and Ergonomics (FKIE), for proactively initiating a broad discourse extending beyond the bounds of the security policy community at a very early stage. The more diverse and broader the basis for our discussions, the better the outcomes will be. The Federal Ministry of Defence considers itself to be an equal partner in the debate and I am looking forward to taking further steps together with the Expert panel on the responsible use of technologies.