The Ministry of Defence held a press conference on Tuesday, in the Wahat Al Karama to announce the agenda of its annual conference, the Leadership Conference: War in the 21st Century
ABU DHABI, (Pakistan Point News - 29th Oct, 2019) The Ministry of Defence held a press conference on Tuesday, in the Wahat Al Karama to announce the agenda of its annual conference, the Leadership Conference: War in the 21st Century.
Held under the patronage of His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice President, Prime Minister and Ruler of Dubai, the conference will be held on 6th and 7th November at the Emirates Center for Strategic Studies and Research, and the Armed Forces' Officers Club in Abu Dhabi.
This year's conference will be held under the theme, "Winning the Digital Warfare", a subject, confirmed by the leaders of the Ministry of Defence, as one of the most important topics taking place in the midst of unconventional contemporary wars.
Mohammed bin Ahmed Al Bowardi, Minister of State for Defence Affairs, stressed that based on its faith of the direct impact of digital technology and the development of artificial intelligence on the requirements for the defence of national security and protection of the state's sovereignty and resources, the Ministry of Defence has chosen "Winning the Digital Warfare" to be the theme for its conference this year. He added, "digital wars pose a real threat to states, and a challenge to their ability to protect their digital or cyber-spaces, and therefore this conference will discuss the challenges of digital wars and their impact on the national security of states and the search for the best Ways and means to achieve victory in such wars."
Matar Salim Ali Al Dhahiri, Undersecretary of the Ministry of Defence, stressed the importance of this conference, which comes within the Ministry of Defence's plan for strategic conferences, which was launched in 2015, with a view to contributing to the preparation of future leaders to face the challenges of the Wars of the 21st century. He noted that emerging technologies is changing the character of warfare, especially with the rapid spread and direct impact of digital technology on the defence operational environment. This led to introducing, studying and discussing of the challenges posed by digital wars on the defence security environment.
The official spokesman for the Ministry of Defense's Conference, Dr. Ismail AlBloushi, said that in order to strengthen the Ministry's proactive vision in addressing major strategic issues of defence by contributing to the development and consolidation of national knowledge awareness and deepening the awareness of all national components of the nature of defence challenges, the conference will discuss a number of topics of interest on the national and international arenas: challenges of digital war, autonomous systems in war, innovation and future strategic challenges, the variance of the digital age in an increasingly connected world, cyber security ,space, influence operations in the digital age, guided systems, the national readiness to face digital threats, and securing the digital infrastructure.
The official spokesman for the Ministry of Defence's Conference, Dr. Ismail AlBloushi, added that the conference "Winning the Digital Warfare" will have an added value by highlighting the areas of digital warfare through the presentation of the latest insights, studies, strategies and policies related to the rapidly evolving trends in digital conflicts and the effects of their potential, emerging and changing threats on the defence security environment to deepen the capabilities of national integration to win these conflicts.
Dr. AlBloushi said that the Ministry of Defence continues its proactive approach to understand the nature of contemporary and future conflicts and to consider how to develop its strategic capabilities in line with the rapidly changing nature of the defence environment in all its aspects, and to protect the open space of the UAE and enhance the ability to continue winning digital battles and safeguarding the vital sectors and the society by proactively preparing for challenges.
He cited a number of examples, including that technology is leading the rapid developments in autonomous capabilities of unmanned systems, and that these systems will increasingly play an important role in future conflicts, leading to increasingly autonomous weapons systems. This will result in challenges in the legal, moral, political and strategic stability. Governments have begun dealing with how to meet the challenges and opportunities associated with increased autonomy. Because technology is evolving rapidly in this area, there will be used a wide range of communication networks, broad networks of smart devices, coupled with increased speeds, automation, and internet of things. Thus, living in this digital world will offer great opportunities and expose weaknesses and risks that we should foresee and understand.
In another example, Dr. Ismail AlBloushi tackled the UAV's in the arsenal of remotely controlled high-tech weapons and not very different from fighter aircraft in their destructive capacity and ability to implement several diverse functions in the operating environment. As artificial intelligence is an important part of modern warfare compared to conventional systems, military platforms equipped with artificial intelligence are able to handle larger amounts of data more efficiently. In addition, artificial intelligence supports the autonomous formation and operation of combat systems because of their inherent computing and decision-making capabilities.
Dr. Ismail AlBloushi mentioned also the use of artificial intelligence in the areas of security and defence, where it is expected to result in increased R & D funding by research centers in most countries, to develop new and advanced artificial intelligence applications that would only increase reliance on systems guided by artificial intelligence in the military sector. Artificial intelligence refers to the ability of machines to perform tasks that normally require human intelligence ─ recognise patterns, learn from experience, draw conclusions, forecast, take actions, etc. ─ whether digitally or through an intelligent software, such as self-control of physical systems.
In a final example, Dr. AlBloushi stressed that information operations are part of digital warfare. Information operations aim at influencing minds and indirectly guide psychologically through highly developed psychological and media operations to thwart state institutions through multiple tools using cross-traditional border cyberspace.
The official spokesman for the Ministry of Defence's Conference, Dr. Ismail AlBloushi, said that this conference complements the series conferences for "Leadership for the 21st Century Wars" organised by the Ministry of Defence and aiming at preparing future leaders capable of achieving proactive and forward-looking and rapid adaptation to respond to emerging challenges by arming them with the latest visions in the domains of security and defence. This comes to achieve the contribution of the Ministry of Defence in producing the necessary strategic knowledge in future fields, and the exchange of experiences to ensure the achievement of the defence objectives of the United Arab Emirates.
Dr. AlBloushi added that the first day of the conference, held at the Emirates Centre for Strategic Studies and Research in Abu Dhabi, would include the keynote address of the conference by Mohammed bin Ahmed Al Bawardi, Minister of State for Defence.
Following would be a keynote speech by Omar bin Sultan Al Olama, Minister of State for Artificial Intelligence on the Challenges of Digital Warfare; a keynote speech by Paul Scharre of the Center for a New American Security entitled "Autonomous Systems in Warfare"; a specialised working paper by Brigadier General Dr. Mubarak Saeed Al Jabri, Chairman of the CITC at the General Headquarters of the Armed Forces entitled "Innovation and the Future Strategic Challenges"; a specialised working paper by Khalifa Al Shamsi, Etisalat Group Chief Corporate Strategy and Governance Officer entitled "Variance of the Digital Age in an Increasingly Connected World"; a working paper by Professor Ernesto Damiani of British Telecom Information Technology Centre; a specialised paper by Dr. Nasser Al Ahbabi, Director General of the Emirates Space Agency, entitled "Space and Digital Warfare"; a special paper by Dr. Ian Tunnicliffe of the Strategic Communications and Information Operations Unit entitled "Influence Operations in the Digital Age."
The first day will end with specialised panel discussions involving a group of experts and specialists in digital warfare. The Armed Forces Officers Club in Abu Dhabi will host the second day, which will include specialised workshops in the various fields and sectors of digital warfare, in cooperation with strategic partners on both the national and international levels.
The Official spokesman of the Conference also added that the Ministry of Defence is looking to discuss this important and vital issue with all its partners in the national security community and the components of the national forces, academia, civil society, policy makers, experts and specialists through the promotion of dialogue and cooperation and exchange of experiences at the national and international levels, to promote participatory plans to address the digital and cyber challenges and threats.
