Human Machine Teaming and the Future of Air Operations
The increasing autonomy and digitization of battlefields implies a re-examination of Man Machine Teaming (MMT). While Artificial Intelligence (AI) has significant benefits, the human cognitive system remains unique until this day. Nonetheless, as demonstrated by the “centaur” approach, man-machine teaming offers even greater potentials than the two working separately.
Man Machine Teaming’s operational gains are thought to be tremendous, but so are their challenges. As the systems grow increasingly autonomous, their interaction with humans gets more complex, with AI slowly transitioning from a tool-like role to that of a crewmember. To make the most of this new collaboration, the very conception of these new technologies needs to be rethought in order to focus their designs on humans. Allowing humans to effectively interact with systems that have varying degrees of autonomy is expected to give armed forces a new factor of operational superiority.
Numerous countries are now developing MMT military program. In France, the “future aerial combat system” or SCAF carries these new stakes in the field of military airpower – a field where man-system integration is old and where its potentials are great. From logistic to swarming in, from flight assistants to “cobots”, the possibilities of effective man-machine teaming are wide and they are already reshaping the field of military airpower.
This content is available in French : La synergie homme-machine et l'avenir des opérations aériennes
Security Studies Center
Heir to a tradition dating back to the founding of Ifri, the Security Studies Center provides public and private decision-makers as well as the general public with the keys to understanding power relations and contemporary modes of conflict as well as those to come. Through its positioning at the juncture of politics and operations, the credibility of its civil-military team and the wide distribution of its publications in French and English, the Center for Security Studies constitutes in the French landscape of think tanks a unique center of research and influence on the national and international defense debate.
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Since late 2023, several Houthi attacks on commercial shipping have involved privately contracted armed teams conducting defensive engagements and coordinating immediate response efforts, often in the relative absence of regular naval forces during the immediate hostilities at sea. These cases highlight a strategic tension that increasingly confronts modern navies. On the one hand, they are expected to conduct persistent, low-intensity maritime security tasks such as counterpiracy, maritime policing, and the protection of commercial shipping. On the other hand, they face renewed pressure to prepare for high-intensity conflict against peer and near-peer adversaries amid the return of great power competition.
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