Artificial intelligence has moved from the margins of defence planning to its centre. It now shapes how armed forces see, decide and act. For Europe, this shift comes at a moment of heightened insecurity and strategic uncertainty. How the continent responds will determine not only its military credibility, but its political sovereignty.
This is why I initiated the AI in Defence Summit. The aim is not to promote technology for its own sake, but to address a growing strategic gap: Europe is entering an era of AI-enabled warfare without a shared understanding of where it stands, what it controls, and what it lacks.
AI as strategic infrastructure
AI is no longer a support function in defence. It is becoming core infrastructure, underpinning intelligence fusion, logistics, cyber defence, autonomous systems and operational decision-making. In modern conflict, advantage increasingly accrues to those who can process information faster, integrate systems more effectively and adapt in real time.
For Europe, this presents both an opportunity and a risk. While strong capabilities exist across member states, they remain fragmented. At the same time, dependence on non-European technologies persists in critical areas. Strategic autonomy cannot be sustained if the technologies that determine battlefield effectiveness are developed, owned or governed elsewhere.
Why mapping comes first
Before Europe can close capability gaps, it must first understand them. A central objective of the Summit is therefore a systematic mapping of the European AI in defence ecosystem as it exists today.
This includes start-ups and scale-ups, defence primes, research institutions, procurement authorities, investors and regulators. At present, these actors often operate in parallel rather than in concert. Promising technologies struggle to move from experimentation to deployment. Feedback from operational users arrives too late, if at all. Capital for scaling remains scarce.
Mapping the ecosystem is not an academic exercise. It is a strategic necessity. Without a shared picture, Europe risks misallocating resources—overinvesting in some areas while leaving others dangerously exposed.
From capability gaps to collective action
The gaps that emerge are not purely technological. They are organisational, financial and cultural. Procurement cycles are slow. Growth capital is limited. Defence innovation still carries stigma in parts of Europe’s investment community, despite an increasingly hostile security environment.
Addressing these challenges requires coordination across public and private sectors. No single institution can resolve them alone. The Summit is designed to bring all stakeholders into the same strategic conversation, aligning policy, capital and operational demand.
Deterrence through credible capability
AI’s role in defence is often discussed in abstract terms. In practice, its impact is concrete: it shortens decision cycles and increases precision. These attributes translate into battlefield superiority—and, by extension, deterrence.
Deterrence is not about escalation. It is about preventing conflict by reducing ambiguity and miscalculation. A Europe that can demonstrate credible, AI-enabled defence capabilities lowers the incentive for aggression and raises the cost of coercion.
Why Ukraine’s experience matters
Ukraine provides the clearest contemporary evidence of how AI and commercial technologies reshape warfare. Its experience shows how quickly systems can be adapted, how vital feedback from the frontline is, and how speed often matters more than scale.
These lessons are directly relevant to Europe. They underline the need for agility, interoperability and pragmatism—and they expose the limitations of peacetime procurement and innovation models.
AI, defence and European sovereignty
At stake is more than military effectiveness. A Europe that cannot develop and govern AI for its own defence will struggle to maintain strategic autonomy. Conversely, investing in defence-relevant AI strengthens the industrial base, supports technological leadership and reinforces democratic resilience.
AI in defence is therefore not a niche concern. It is a test of Europe’s capacity to act as a geopolitical actor in its own right.
Preventing the next war in Europe
I approach this issue not only as an investor and ecosystem builder, but as the founder of Prevent WARS, an initiative based on a simple premise: wars are enabled by weakness, miscalculation and delay.
Europe’s greatest risk today is not overreaction, but complacency. History suggests that conflict is more likely when deterrence is unclear and capabilities are questioned. AI in defence, developed responsibly and collectively, reduces that risk by increasing clarity and credibility.
Ukraine has demonstrated that technological neutrality does not exist in wartime. AI will shape future conflicts regardless of European hesitation. The choice is whether Europe helps shape these technologies in line with its values, or whether it remains dependent on others.
Preventing the next war in Europe will not be achieved through declarations alone. It will require credible capabilities, shared awareness and sustained coordination. Convening the AI in defence community is one step towards that goal.
In an era defined by AI, peace will increasingly belong to those who prepare for it.
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Photo: Dreamstime.
