New Zealand defence concept shifts spending toward drones, AI and networked warfare
The NZDF Future Fighting Concept asks the government to adapt acquisition rules so it can buy rapidly obsolete technology, citing AI, predictive analysis and machine teaming as priorities.
The New Zealand Defence Force has published its Future Fighting Concept, a roughly 50-page document that places artificial intelligence, machine teaming, predictive analysis and network-centric warfare at the center of future force design, according to reporting by B2B News NZ and RNZ. Where the 2017 concept treated drones as a curiosity, the new document asks the government to change acquisition policy so the force can buy technology that may become obsolete within 18 months.
The concept is backed by real contracts already under way, including Black Hornet 4 and Skydio drones, a battle management system upgrade, and intelligence processing software, with around NZ$350 million earmarked for uncrewed and counter-drone systems over four years. It cites the more than US$1 billion in drone and counter-drone systems the United States has delivered to CENTCOM this year as a benchmark among allies. Defense planners in smaller and middle powers increasingly write requirements in terms of software, data integration and decision support rather than platforms alone, a shift that industry observers expect to spread across the Asia-Pacific.