Germany's armed forces are auditioning 30 different AI systems to help commanders make faster calls on the battlefield.
The Bundeswehr is evaluating the tools for their ability to process data streaming in from drones and satellites, aiming to cut the gap between spotting a threat and deciding what to do about it. Vice Admiral Thomas Daum, who heads the military's cyber command, says a working prototype should be ready by the second quarter of 2027. Full deployment isn't planned until a year later, in 2028. That's a multi-year runway for software meant to help troops react in something closer to real time.
Thirty candidates instead of one supplier suggests Germany doesn't want to bet its battlefield decision-making on a single AI vendor. But the timeline is telling: a 2027 prototype followed by a 2028 rollout means one of the fastest-moving fields in tech is being bolted onto one of the slower-moving parts of government.
For an institution known for drawn-out procurement, even hitting that prototype deadline would count as fast.