U.S. Marine Corps Lance Corporal Briar Purty tests Drone Killer Counter-UAS Technology during Urban Advanced Naval Technology Exercise 2018 (ANTX-18) at Marine Corps Base Camp Pendleton, California, March 21, 2018. Picture taken March 21, 2018. U.S. Marine Corps/Lance Cpl. Rhita Daniel/Handout via REUTERS. ATTENTION EDITORS - THIS IMAGE WAS PROVIDED BY A THIRD PARTY - RC130534DFC0

Defence Innovation and the 4th Industrial Revolution: Security Challenges, Emerging Technologies, and National Responses

Updated: 11. May 2021 12:36

Project period

1. Mar 2018 -

1. May 2021

Project owner

Norwegian Defence University College

Project manager

Zysk, Katarzyna

Organization unit

Norwegian Institute for Defence Studies

Tags

Innovation

Defence

Military science

Military strategy

Emergent Military Technologies

Military Transformation

Funding

This research project explores how militaries are integrating, adapting and leveraging the 4th Industrial Revolution (4IR) technologies and examines the varying strategic and operational implications of the development. Its core themes reflect on the position of the 4IR in the context of previous Revolutions in Military Affairs; a comparison between how large resource-rich states and small resource-limited states are adopting and integrating 4IR technologies; the difference between various 4IR innovation and adaptation models, and the operational implications of such technologies in terms of manpower, operational domains force structure and the application of force.

Editorial team: Michael RASKA (RSIS, Singapore), Katarzyna ZYSK (IFS, Oslo), Ian BOWERS (FAK, Copenhagen).

The project is being published as a special issue of the Journal of Strategic Studies (most of the essays can be already accessed online). This special issue has evolved from international research collaboration and subsequent workshop (2019) co-organised by the S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies, the Norwegian Institute for Defence Studies, and the Institute of Security and Defence Policy at Kiel University.

Results:

Introduction
Raska, Zysk, Bowers, Bitzinger
https://doi.org/10.1080/01402390.2021.1917877

(1) The Sixth RMA Wave: Disruption in Military Affairs?
Raska, Michael
https://doi.org/10.1080/01402390.2020.1848818

(2) From Closed to Open Systems: How the US Military Services Pursue Innovation
Stanley-Lockman, Zoe
https://doi.org/10.1080/01402390.2021.1917393

(3) Artificial Intelligence in China’s Revolution in Military Affairs
Kania, Elsa
https://doi.org/10.1080/01402390.2021.1894136

(4) Defence Innovation and the 4th Industrial Revolution in Russia
Zysk, Katarzyna
https://doi.org/10.1080/01402390.2020.1856090

(5) 4IR Technologies in the Israel Defence Forces: Blurring Traditional Boundaries
Evron, Yoram
https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/01402390.2020.1852936

(6) Small States and Autonomous Systems – The Scandinavian Case
Petersson, Magnus
https://doi.org/10.1080/01402390.2020.1856091

(7) Not So Disruptive After All: The 4IR, Navies and the Search for Sea Control
Bowers, Ian; Kirchberger, Sarah
https://doi.org/10.1080/01402390.2020.1848819