Designing A Generative AI Platform For Tactical Training Of Junior Officers
[TDHJ, 28.05.2026, Ivan Colak-Antic, Lauriane Fivaz, Simone Matteo Locatelli]
In this article, Colak-Antic (research associate at MILAK), Fivaz and Locatelli (students at MILAK) analyse the potential of generative AI for tactical decision games in junior officer training. They argue that traditional wargames and TDGs are valuable, but constrained by instructor capacity, limited scenario diversity, single-point decisions and instructor bias. AI-enabled platforms could help alleviate these shortcoming by enabling their users to repeatedly practise varied, multi-step tactical scenarios with adaptive adversaries, battlefield visualisation and personalised debriefings. Phillip J. Halton’s CustomGPT “What Now, Commander?”, while not part of the article, gives a useful impression of how such a tactical AI tutor could feel in practice. The authors nevertheless underline that such systems require multi-agent architecture, adequate data, coherent scenario progression and feedback based on national doctrine.
Link: https://tdhj.org/blog/post/generative-ai-training-officers/
Drones Aren’t Antithetical to Maneuver Warfare – They’re the Key to Unleashing its Effectiveness
[Modern War Institute, 25.11.2025, Charlie Phelps]
Phelps challenges the view that drones undermine manoeuvre warfare and argues that they are essential to preserving tempo, initiative, and offensive action in future large-scale land combat. Rather than treating drones simply as a tool to strike, he highlights the manifold tasks drones can serve apart from striking enemy targets. When properly integrated, they can provide persistent reconnaissance, support electronic warfare, and rapidly expose gaps in the enemy’s defences. In doing so, Phelps argues that tactical drones can enable mission command and manoeuvre warfare.
10 Ukrainians Humbled Two NATO Battalions. When Will NATO Wake Up?
[War on the Rocks, 26.03.2026, Bryan Daugherty]
In this article Daugherty highlights the gaps in NATO capabilities which Hedgehog 2025, a NATO exercise including Ukrainian soldiers, highlighted. He stresses the need for armed forces to cooperate with Ukraine to catch up in drone warfare and drone interception capabilities. Whilst they are not part of NATO, the Gulf States’ inability for reliable and sustained air defence against Iranian saturation attacks has further driven the author’s point home; states such as Saudi Arabia have consequently decided to cooperate more closely with Ukraine.
Link: https://warontherocks.com/2026/03/10-ukrainians-humbled-two-nato-battalions-when-will-nato-wake-up/
Neocentaur: A Model for Cognitive Evolution Across the Levels of War
[Modern War Institute, 09.05.2025, William J. Barry, Blair Wilcox]
In this piece, a professor of emerging technology at the U.S. Army War College and his colleague discuss the potential and risks of integrating AI into the strategic, operational and tactical levels of war. They advocate a Neocentaur model, where human operators are paired with AI, yet where humans maintain control over the machine. Moreover, they warn of the dangers of the inherently attractive process of cognitive offloading, where humans, especially when working in a stressful environment, are tempted to over-rely on machines for decision-making. In that case, generative AI would direct human cognition instead of augmenting it. The authors warn of this minotaur drift, the trend towards giving up control to machines.
Link: https://mwi.westpoint.edu/neocentaur-a-model-for-cognitive-evolution-across-the-levels-of-war/
Emergent Approaches to Combined Arms Manoeuvre in Ukraine
[RUSI, 23.10.2025, Jack Watling]
After Ukraine’s failed 2023 southern offensive, Watling argues that the war in Ukraine has exposed why classic combined arms manoeuvre, massing armour, infantry and artillery to achieve surprise and then exploit, is now far harder. Persistent drone reconnaissance, dispersed sensors and space-enabled communications lead to a more transparent battlefield, and concentrations of troops and equipment are detected and hit quickly. Just as importantly, resupply and reinforcements are often easier to target than frontline troops, so offensives lose momentum before any weaknesses in the enemy’s defences can be exploited. Watling focuses on higher-performing Ukrainian assault units which treat manoeuvre as a staged system across three zones: contact, middle (enemy fires, EW, UAV teams and logistics), and deep. The assault unit’s sequence is to contest the enemy’s sensing, isolate a chosen sector from support and resupply, then deliberately degrade and fix the defence before suppressing, closing, clearing, and consolidating with overwatch across open terrain.
Technological Evolution on the Battlefield
[CSIS, 16.09.2025, Aosheng Pusztaszeri, Emily Harding]
This CSIS article considers how rapid technological advances such as in drone technology and AI are changing the character of war. Sensors are ubiquitous, and traditionally massing forces is increasingly risky, as are non-dispersed logistics. The authors argue that to adapt to this new character of war, armed forces need to acquire robust counter-drone and electronic warfare (EW) capabilities and redundant secure communications. Moreover, the article strikes the importance of dispersed tactics and agile procurement systems.
Link: https://www.csis.org/analysis/chapter-9-technological-evolution-battlefield
Seven Contemporary Insights on the State of the Ukraine War
[CSIS, 17.11.2025, Mick Ryan]
In this nuanced analysis, Mick Ryan shares the insights he gathered from observing the Russian-Ukrainian War. Amongst other points, he argues that while drone saturation has certainly changed how the war is fought, it is not a drone war as drones complement rather than replace existing capabilities such as artillery. The author then further investigates the role of military adaptation, long-range strikes and the upcoming of a new battle triangle.
Link: https://www.csis.org/analysis/seven-contemporary-insights-state-ukraine-war
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