Schwarzenberg stage | The Swarm Age: Is Europe Ready for AI-Powered Drone Warfare?

In cooperation with DIGITALEUROPE From Ukraine to the Middle East, drones and counter-drone capabilities are reshaping conflict. Low-cost autonomous and semi-autonomous systems can increasingly threaten high-value military assets and put critical infrastructure at risk. Energy facilities, ports, airports and logistics hubs are becoming part of the battlespace. A deeper transformation is also underway: warfare is shifting from a small number of sophisticated platforms towards autonomy, intelligent mass, speed and adaptability, driven by AI-enabled systems, advanced sensors and secure connectivity. Europe has world-class technologies, strong defence industrial actors and a dynamic innovation ecosystem. Building on initiatives such as the multinational priority capability area on drones and counter-drones led by the Netherlands, governments, the defence industry and technology innovators must now accelerate joint efforts to close the gap between prototype and fielded capability — and build the ecosystem Europe needs for the next era of drone and autonomous warfare. - How must military doctrine, supply chains and skills evolve when cheap autonomous systems can neutralise billion-euro capabilities? - Europe has the technology but still struggles to deploy at scale. Can initiatives like the Dutch-led priority capability area on drones and counter-drones unlock faster testing, procurement and industrial scaling? - As warfare shifts from human-piloted systems to AI-enabled swarm operations, who will design and control the command architectures that manage autonomous systems at the speed of modern conflict? Speakers: Tarja Jaakkola, ASG Defence Industry, Innovation & Armaments, NATO Serhii Kupriienko, CEO, swarmer.tech Brig. Gen. Ronald Rietbergen, International Project Leader, Drones/Counter-Drones Jaume Sanpera, CEO, Sateliot Led by: Cecilia Bonefeld-Dahl, Director General, DIGITALEUROPE Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/GLOBSECforum X: https://x.com/GLOBSEC LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/10637133/admin/dashboard/ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/globsecthinktank/ BlueSky: https://bsky.app/profile/globsec.bsky.social