Since 2014, the international community has been discussing how to deal with the emergence of increasingly autonomous weapons systems under the auspices of the United Nations Convention on Certain Conventional Weapons. This case study examines the behavior of those nation-states that oppose a preventive ban on lethal autonomous weapons systems in this forum. In this regard, the concept of antipreneurship is applied to the analysis of the international meetings in order to explore the resistance patterns with which antipreneurs reject the need for normative change. Analyzing the content of related documents shows that antipreneurs block formal negotiations on a ban and deem legal weapons reviews to be a sufficient regulatory instrument. Beyond that, the antipreneurs also attempt to create a beneficial image of the relationship between artificial intelligence and international humanitarian law. This behavior contributes to force norm entrepreneurs increasingly into a defensive position and sustainably undermines their entrepreneurial demand for a preventive ban. Besides, the analysis distinguishes the resistance of antipreneurs from ambivalent behavior that cannot be clearly linked neither to the behavior of entrepreneurs nor to that of antipreneurs.

Approved for public release, distribution is unlimited / Test and evaluation of system performance has been a critical part of the acceptance of combat weapon systems for the Department of Defense. As combat weapon systems have become more complex, evaluation of system performance has relied more heavily on recorded test data. As part of the on-going transformation of the Defense department, Commercial-Off- The-Shelf (COTS) technology is being integrated into the acquisition of combat weapon systems. An Analysis Control Board (ACB) was created in response to these factors to support the AEGIS Weapon System Program Office. The focus of this ACB was to investigate and provide potential solutions to Data Dictionary, Data Recording and Data Reduction (R2D2) issues to the AEGIS Program Manager. This thesis discusses the history of the R2D2 ACB and its past, present and future directions. Additionally, this thesis examines how the R2D2 ACB concept could be applied to the DD(X) Next Generation Destroyer program. / Civilian, United States Navy

During the 2000 presidential race, then Texas Governor George W. Bush advocated transforming and reforming how the Department of Defense (DoD) acquires new weapon systems. He promised a "revolution" that would "skip a generation of technology," in order to "move on to futuristic weapons without necessarily buying all those in development." This thesis examines President Bush's proposal and analyzes the potential impact on DoD and the defense industry. Ultimately the research revealed that there are ways to improve the acquisition process and protect the defense industry. The primary conclusion of the research is that it is feasible to skip current weapon systems in development, in order to begin research and development of the next-generation weapon systems. However, DoD will be impacted through higher operations and sustainment (O & S) costs to sustain existing weapon systems if weapon systems currently in development are skipped. The acquisition professionals that participated in this study believe these O & S costs could increase up to 10% per year for anywhere from five to 20 years depending on the type of system. This thesis makes additional recommendations and areas of further research. / Captain, United States Marine Corps

Thesis--School of Advanced Airpower Studies, 1996. / Shipping list no.: 1998-0921-M. "August 1997." Includes bibliographical references. Also available via Internet from the Air University Press web site. Address as of 11/3/03: http://aupress.au.af.mil/SAAS%5FTheses/Renehan/renehen.pdf; current access is available via PURL.

Thesis--(Licentiate)--Royal Institute of Technology, Stockholm, 2007. / Original thesis t.p. and absdtract on 1 leaf inserted. Includes bibliographical references (p. 107-109).

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Military developments suggest that autonomous weapons systems will be the future ofwarfare. Therefore, it is important to understand how to define the concept and how peopleexpress themselves around it. This paper will analyze how important actors in Sweden talkabout autonomous weapon systems. The concept of how autonomous weapons is constructedand what diversities and similarities there are in the expressions of autonomous weapons willbe examined in this paper. The question is if there is a hegemonic status in any discourse?Actors' expressions, such as political parties and researchers as FOI, SIPRI and The SwedishPeace and Arbitration Society, will be investigated. Social constructivism and discourseanalysis provide theoretical tools for the analysis. The discourses are organized byoperational and financial, human involvement, legal field and political discourses.The analysis shows how important characters try to give meaning to the phenomenon, forexample economic, human involvement and fear, which affect the different discourses. Theconclusions indicate that the juridical discourse has reached a hegemonic status, because allactors connect autonomous weapons to juridical frameworks.

This thesis addresses the issue of autonomous weapons systems and their potential preventive prohibition with regard to current international discussions at multilateral forums such as the Human Rights Council, First Committee of the General Assembly, and Convention on Certain Conventional Weapons at UN. The aim of this thesis is to provide an extensive empirical account of the substance of those discussions and their most likely outcome, estimating state preferences with use of content analysis and the likely outcome with median voter prediction. From a theoretical standpoint, the thesis draws from defensive realism and contributions of arms control, arms trade as well as institutionalist literature from which it draws the concept of legalization. From a methodological standpoint, the thesis relies on quantitative methods, in particular, content analysis for collection of data and median voter theorem for prediction of the likely outcome. In addition, the thesis uses the method of regression analysis to examine states' activity at the aforementioned fora. In conclusion, the thesis finds that the most likely outcome of discussions on autonomous weapons systems is a moderate-obligation form of hybrid regulation, which includes solutions such as framework convention and moratorium. Further finding of...

Military Strategy is defined as a plan at the military strategic level of war that consists of a set of military strategic ends, ways and means and the relationships between them. This definition leads to the following research questions: 1. How can the extent of the many-to-many relationships that exist between a military strategy, its ends, ways and means be quantified? 2. If the relationships between a military strategy, its ends, ways and means are quantified and if the effectiveness of the force design elements is known, how shall that enable the quantification of the state’s ability to execute its military strategy? 3. If the relationships between a military strategy, its ends, ways and means are quantified and if the effectiveness of the force design elements is known, how will it aid decision-making about the acquisition of the future force design? The first research question is answered by mapping a military strategy complete with its ends, ways and means to a ranked tree where the entities in the strategy corresponds with the vertices of different rank in the tree. The tree representation is used to define and determine the contribution of entities in a military strategy to entities at the next higher level. It is explained how analytical, heuristic and judgement methods can be employed to find the relative and real contribution values. Also, a military strategy for South Africa is developed to demonstrate the concept. The second research question is answered by developing measures of effectiveness taking the interdependence of entities at the terminal vertices of the ranked tree into account. Thereafter, the degree to which the force design would support the higher order entities inclusive of a military strategy could be calculated. The third research question is answered by developing a cost-benefit analysis method and a distance indicator from an optimal point to aid in deciding between supplier options for acquisition. Thereafter the knapsack problem is amended to allow for scheduling acquisition projects whilst optimising the force design's support of a military strategy. Finally, the model is validated and put into a contextual framework for use in the military. / Quantitative management / D.Phil.

The lack of system capability, budget, and schedule robustness against technology performance and development uncertainties has led to major setbacks in recent acquisition programs. This lack of robustness stems from the fact that immature technologies have uncertainties in their expected performance and development times and costs that translate to variations in system effectiveness and program development budget and schedule requirements. As such, the objective of this thesis is to formulate an assessment process that better informs acquisition decision-makers of program requirements robustness against such uncertainties. To meet the stated research objective, a conceptual methodology for assessing acquisition requirements robustness against technology performance and development uncertainties was formulated. This general approach provides a structured process for integrating probabilistic and quantitative forecasting, multi-criteria decision-making, and decision-support techniques to generate the statistical data needed to quantitatively predict requirements robustness. The results of the robustness assessment indicates to the decision-makers whether or not the technology or set of technologies being developed for the program will result in system capabilities and program budget and schedule that meet decision-maker requirements and preferences. This results in a more informed and justifiable selection of program technologies during initial program definition as well as formulation of program development and risk management strategies.