Ukraine, Gaza, Iran… New forms of war boosted by artificial intelligence

This text corresponds to part of the transcription of the report above. Click on the video to watch it in its entirety.

Whether in Ukraine, Gaza or Iran, artificial intelligence has profoundly changed the way war is waged. And the government affirms it, the French army is ready for this change. “Artificial intelligence is a revolution that involves radically transforming our models, our way of working, thinking, and therefore acting”declared on September 4, 2025 Sébastien Lecornu, then Minister of the Armed Forces. So, is the French army really ready for this technological revolution?

A few kilometers from Rennes (Ille-et-Vilaine) are located the buildings of AMIAD, the Ministerial Agency for Artificial Intelligence in Defense. Attached to the Ministry of the Armed Forces, its mission is clear: to design the military technologies of the future. That day, a drone exercise, a device controlled by AI trains to track a target. “My colleague directs the blue drone, which is a drone which is conventionally remotely operated and is today on the battlefields. And we have the red drone, which is completely autonomous in its navigation and whose artificial intelligence policy will be to follow the blue drone”explains Julian, lead engineer on the Pendragon project.

This training is part of the Pendragon project. Objective: next year to launch the production of a unit of autonomous robots entirely controlled by artificial intelligence. A set of drones and land vehicles capable of carrying out reconnaissance missions but also combat operations. “It’s really a robotization of the battlefield and we can imagine very well that for the URC, the French Robotic Combat Unit, its first opponent will be a robotic combat unit from an opposing country”says Julian.

While waiting to fight with robots, AI must already support the military on the ground, in particular to better identify the enemy. Marie Auffret-Wiener, engineer at AMIAD, has developed an artificial intelligence model capable of identifying opposing vehicles within a radius of three kilometers. “For example, there, we can see one which is all camouflaged in the trees and which we would really have difficulty seeing with the naked eye. The advantage of the model is that it makes it possible to detect enemy vehicles which the operators could have difficulty seeing.”she explains.

In the coming months, this system must equip the army’s armored personnel carriers. Whether on the ground, in the air or at sea, artificial intelligence is everywhere. In submarines, AI already assists the golden ears, these officers responsible for detecting enemy ships using sounds picked up underwater. AI should allow them to move much faster by eliminating false leads very quickly. “Today, through artificial intelligence, we are supporting these golden ears which allow them to target the signals of interest by getting rid of all that is unnecessary noise, and therefore to be able to work and provide their expertise on the few signals which are truly of interest”says Vincent Sébastien, rear admiral, deputy director of AMIAD.

But are these innovations enough to make France a leader in defense AI? In her book “War in the age of artificial intelligence”, researcher Laure de Rossi-Rochegonde places France in a second circle of countries developing AI for military purposes, behind two giants. “The United States and China dominate this new arms race, largely thanks to a large private digital industry, very technologically advanced and capable of fueling the development of military applications”she emphasizes.

In the United States, for example, the company Palantir, originally specialized in surveillance, today supplies the American army with Maven software. Thanks to AI, this system can identify a target and propose its elimination. “So we went from identifying the target to developing an action plan and then executing it in one system. It’s revolutionary.”announced Cameron Stanley, director of AI at the United States Department of Defense. A system which can raise ethical questions and which France does not have. “You have a level where you start to plan operations using AI and we saw it in Iran with the Maven program from the United States. I want to say that we are not there yet, but we are starting to be there, we are starting to think about doing the same thing with Mistral AI for example”specifies Jean-Pierre Maulny, deputy director of IRIS and defense specialist.

Mistral AI, the French champion of artificial intelligence until now not specialized in defense, is now working with the army. To avoid being left behind in the global race for military AI, French forces are collaborating with numerous private companies, because tomorrow’s wars will be won thanks to artificial intelligence.

Minister of the Army

Ministry of the Armed Forces and Mistral AI

Analysis by IFRI (French Institute of International Relations), “The use of AI in the context of military operations marginalizes human decision-making”.

Eye of 20H de France 2: Military AI, a formidable weapon that is gaining ground

Interviews :

Vincent Sébastien, rear admiral, deputy director of Amiad.

Jean-Pierre Maulny, deputy director of the Institute of International and Strategic Relations (IRIS), defense specialist.

Non-exhaustive list