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James Appathurai, interim managing director of NATO’s DIANA tech program, speaks in Georgia’s capital Tbilisi, in October, 2012. Mr. Appathurai was in Halifax on Wednesday and said air and missile defences are among key priorities for technological advances in the short term.VANO SHLAMOV/Getty Images
NATO is losing ground in an arms and innovation race with Russia and China and needs “bridging technologies” from countries, including Canada, to quickly close the gap, a senior official with the military alliance said Wednesday.
James Appathurai said Canada’s recent commitment to boost defence spending to 5 per cent of gross domestic product − tens of billions of dollars in additional annual expenditures − will give Canadian technology a bigger shot at contributing to the North Atlantic Treaty Organization efforts.
Mr. Appathurai, interim managing director of NATO’s DIANA tech program, who was in Halifax Wednesday, cited Ukraine’s success against the Russian navy as an example of the kind of technological sprint that NATO needs to accomplish.
“The Ukrainians have driven the Russian Black Sea fleet away from Ukraine’s coast without having a ship of their own,” he said, talking about Kyiv’s use of naval drones and missiles to attack Moscow’s invading force.
He cited the construction in Halifax of new surface combatant ships for the Royal Canadian Navy, which are slated for delivery starting in the 2030s.
“It’s super important, and we need those frigates. So I want to stress that it’s not one or the other, but it’s going to take years for those ships to be built. We need bridging capabilities that are commercially available now,” Mr. Appathurai said.
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Mr. Appathurai, a Canadian, recently took charge of NATO’s DIANA program (Defence Innovation Accelerator for the North Atlantic) and has shifted its focus to technology that can be rapidly adopted.
He said the big increase in defence spending on the part of not only Canada, but European NATO members, will take time.
“There is no way that traditional defence industry prime contractors can provide, in time, all the capabilities and all the effects that NATO countries have said and agreed that they need in time,” he said.
“No matter how much money you throw at it − they can’t do it because they don’t have the capacity to do it in time,” he said. “So we need innovative solutions.”
The NATO official said air and missile defences are among key priorities for technological advances in the short term.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky warned the United Nations last week that the world is living through the “most destructive arms race in human history,” spurred by Russia’s militarism. Drone warfare in Russia’s war on Ukraine has revolutionized modern combat. The spread of these relatively inexpensive aircraft, coupled with the advent of artificial intelligence, will be able to empower even small actors – terrorists, cartels, rogue states – to inflict devastation far from traditional battlefields, he said.
Mr. Appathurai said Moscow is flooding its education system and media with propaganda to convince its population that the West is Russophobic.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky told the United Nations General Assembly on Sept. 24 that the world was living through the most destructive arms race in human history.
Reuters
Russia is “arming itself extremely quickly,” he said, estimating Moscow can produce 4,000 to 5,000 drones a month. “We’re nowhere near that capability.”
He said the “innovation cycle” in the Russian-Ukraine war is two to 12 weeks, meaning the time it takes for one side or the other to introduce a new technology and have it neutralized by the other side, requiring another new technology.
The other challenge is China, he said, which he said is ahead of the West in 35 out of 45 emerging and disruptive technologies, including some aspects of quantum science as well as biotech. Like Russia, he said, China is investing heavily in drone production and using drones in large artificial-intelligence-powered swarms, which is “very much a part of their strategic doctrine,” meaning principles and guidelines that direct how military forces plan, organize and conduct operations.
Mr. Appathurai said the number of Canadian companies applying to join NATO’s 2026 DIANA program, which provides funding for emerging technology, is among the top three from any alliance member country. He predicted Canadian firms will do well when the 2026 qualifiers are announced.
He said NATO can feel a “sea change” taking place in Canada with respect to defence funding and said DIANA is looking forward to investing in Canada.
Mr. Appathurai, who until recently was NATO deputy assistant secretary-general for innovation, hybrid and cyber, said hacking threats from Russia and China are serious and NATO still doesn’t see enough investment in protections, particularly among smaller private companies and lower-level government ministries.
He said it’s very likely there is malevolent code planted in all critical infrastructure software. “In the cyber world, there’s a bomb under every bridge,” the NATO official said. “There is cyber code in every bit of our critical infrastructure, both from Russia and from China.”
Mr. Appathurai said it’s by no means certain all of this malignant software code will work as its authors intend − but it’s there and growing. “There is a steady campaign to implant it in Western critical infrastructure, and China is the principal agent behind that, but the Russians are doing it, too.”
