Balanced use of artificial intelligence

2 minutes read

Technological development has always been extremely important to the armed forces. Its influence can be seen in weapons, sensor and platform systems, in soldiers’ equipment, in all forms of military actions and within the Defence Ministry’s own organisational operations. The role of artificial intelligence (AI) is increasing too.

NLR X-Lab: frontrunner in augmented reality in MRO aerospace

For the Defence Ministry, AI is an important area to invest in knowledge and expertise for, within all current technological developments. This is particularly true when it is combined with parallel domains such as Big Data and data science: AI could create significant disruptions affecting all the armed forces’ capabilities. The impact of AI soon becomes clear when you look at potential applications. It can help analyse information and make decisions, for instance, allowing potential risks and discrepancies to be identified more quickly by humans.

AI offers the possibility of increasing the autonomy of sensor and weapons systems and implementing their interactions effectively during operations. Optimising the cooperation between humans and machines is another area where AI plays a major role. In addition to these operational possibilities, AI will be able to improve numerous aspects of the Defence Ministry’s organisational operations, from more effective education and training methods through to optimisation of logistics and maintenance.

Although the possibilities offered by AI sometimes seem boundless, there are challenges involved in deploying it. Firstly, ethical considerations are playing an ever greater role in the extent to which AI is used. The safety of AI systems is another important precondition. Both operationally and on the organisational side, it is important that the results of AI processes are understandable for humans and benefit the cooperation between humans and machines. Deployment of AI has to be in equilibrium with these factors. NLR keeps its feet firmly on the ground in that regard. Theorising about the deployment of AI is all well and good, but there are still numerous challenges in the use and practical implementation. Nevertheless, AI offers lots of opportunities. Those are the reasons why NLR put together a brochure that shows the areas where the Defence Ministry can benefit from AI, both during operations and for organisational support.

You can download the AI brochure here. The document is also available on the Modelling and Simulation page, along with other relevant documents.

Latest news

Defence and Security

21 May 2025

Launch of QRDF: rapid drone innovations for Defence

For defence, unmanned systems (drones) are playing an increasingly important role in carrying out their tasks. The war in Ukraine demonstrates that they are being deployed on a large scale: it is no longer just a conflict between armed forces, but also a conflict between industries and innovation. A key factor on the battlefield is […]
Space Technology

08 May 2025

Accelerated Dutch autonomy in space

The war in Ukraine is clearly contributing to tensions between the current geopolitical power blocks. The world feels less safe since Russia’s invasion, and as a NATO ally, the Netherlands is also being asked to contribute to joint measures. This applies to the Dutch space sector as well, which has drawn up a proposal for […]
NLR Marknesse - June 2018
NLR corporate

17 April 2025

Royal NLR appoints new Board

The Supervisory Board of NLR – Netherlands Aerospace Centre has appointed Tineke van der Veen, Jan Lintsen, and Martin Nagelsmit as the new collegiate board of the applied research organisation, effective June 1st, 2025[1]. They will take over the responsibilities of the current Managing Director Michel Peters, who will retire. The increasing complexity of technological […]