The 36th AFCEA Exhibition, held in May at the World Conference Center in Bonn (WCCB), set a record for exhibitors and visitors. Two hundred fifty companies and organizations exhibited at one of Germany's most important information technology trade shows for defense and security. More than 4,100 participants came to the WCCB.
"We have turbulent times. We need to shake Germany up!" said Brig. Gen. Armin Fleischmann, German Air Force, chapter chairman and sub-department head, Cyber and Information Technology Department (CIT) 1 at the Federal Ministry of Defense, in his opening remarks on the current relevance of the exhibition, which this year was themed "(Artificial) Intelligence and Innovations - Concrete Uses."
This look at concrete uses is more urgent than ever: modern wars are digitally supported and digitally waged, notes Lt. Gen. Michael Vetter, German Air Force, head of CIT Department at the Federal Ministry of Defense, in his welcoming speech at the opening. "Let's tackle the turning point of the times-together, courageously and quickly!" Speed, in particular, still needs to be worked on, he said. Capt. at Sea Stephan Mauritz from the Bundeswehr Planning Office confirmed the assessment with a view to Russia's war of aggression on Ukraine. The battlefield of the future will be decided very much by the use of technology, he said. Combat is "hyper," very fast, comprehensive, ruthless, partly glassy.
The second day was characterized by concrete applications and considerations in the accompanying symposium program. In the #DigitalDefenceDebate, Emerging Leaders AFCEA Bonn e.V. looked at innovative and AI applications for the administration and the role of software and digitalization in the defense of Ukraine involved. Gundbert Scherf, co-founder and co-CEO of Helsing, is certain that existing hardware and equipment can be decisively improved by software-up to a factor of 10. However, artificial intelligence would not yet be used on a large scale today. "But the next conflict will probably be a war of algorithms."
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