00:00You have been awarded a contract that allows you to start work on this and you'll see whether you win the final contract in the end.
00:09Tell us a little bit about what it is you're going to be working on, on the eastern border for NATO.
00:16So, of course, the eastern border is a very strategic region for Germany and for whole Europe.
00:23We need to build deterrence. This is the only way how we or we are aware that this is the only way to avoid a war against Russia or other aggressors.
00:35So, of course, we are looking for a way now in Germany and Europe to overwatch the border and to have a kind of alert system and to be ready and capable to fight against an enemy at the very borders of the NATO and Europe.
00:51And this requires new technologies. This is nothing you can only do with the analog current platforms like tanks.
00:58Of course, we need them. But AI and software is a game changer to multiply our capabilities for our armed forces.
01:07Yes. And Mark, tell us how it is that you are embracing AI to better patrol that eastern flank.
01:14AI is used for the multiplier effect means that we are turning, for example, analog systems like a vehicle into a software defined system.
01:25This is something we do through our MIFA OS operating, the operating system which uses AI to connect systems like drones together with other warfare assets like tanks, vehicles, traditional platforms.
01:39And autonomy is the next step. So you need to enable a soldier to maintain not only one system, but several systems, five, ten, X to multiply its or his capabilities with unmanned systems and to get the distance.
01:57Of course, we are outnumbered by our enemies in personal and material means we need distance, we need to safety for our soldiers and we need this multiplier effect.
02:09And mass production of unmanned systems is the only way to get these capabilities into the warfighter's hands.
02:17Mark, is there a danger that the technology gets too far ahead of the warfighter?
02:22How integrated are the soldier right now and the technology?
02:28I'm seeing a lot of tests being done in Europe, a lot of exercises being done in Europe.
02:32And Europe is struggling to kind of make that connection, get that interface right between the soldier and the technology.
02:40Where do you think the challenges are going to lie and how good do you think that interface is right now?
02:47So the pace of technology was for our armed forces kind of overwhelming because it's faster than our processes to implement new technologies into our armed forces.
03:00The armed forces are a huge, complex system.
03:03So there are a lot of strings attached if you want to implement new technologies because you need to change a lot from training to maintenance.
03:12So there's a big space you need to control and to maintain if you want to change something.
03:20But we understood now that change and innovation is the only chance to develop an advantage for our armed forces.
03:28And we are pretty fast now.
03:31So Europe is aware that we need this.
03:34But, yeah, of course, Ukraine is something we learn from.
03:39We can't fight a war in Europe like Ukraine needs to do it right now.
03:43But we learned a lot.
03:45And there is a transfer of knowledge.
03:47There's a transfer of con-ops.
03:49And we try to implement it due to different program of records already launched in Europe.
03:56Where does the bottleneck lie on the battlefield right now?
04:00I'm hearing a lot about the fact that it's actually batteries and simply being able to maintain the power to a lot of the devices that are being used,
04:09a lot of the drones that are being used, a lot of the independent vehicles that are being used.
04:13Where do you see the bottlenecks that Europe now needs to resolve?
04:17It doesn't feel like it's in software.
04:18Software is something that Europe still has quite strong technology within.
04:22But where do you see the bottlenecks on the battlefield?
04:27It's interconnection.
04:28So the interconnection of different systems from different centuries.
04:31It's pretty hard with new assets of warfare like unmanned systems, drones, to connect them to a tank which was built in the 70s or 80s.
04:40So to harmonize our data and our information on the battlefield and to deliver them as fast as possible, faster than the enemy to our soldiers,
04:50this is the biggest problem or challenge right now.
04:54So the most important thing is to build a mess, so to connect innovation like unmanned systems, AI, software-defined systems, one-way effectors,
05:09so the new assets of warfare with our industrial base in Germany.
05:13Because in Germany, defense is not a part of this industrial base.
05:18We have 100,000 employees and you cannot arm Europe with 100,000 employees.
05:24It means we need to activate our industrial base in automotive, for example, where we have a few million employees,
05:30where we have automated plants, serial production.
05:34This is nothing you can do with tanks.
05:37But we need to come to a mess of systems of 10,000 and 100,000.
05:42And companies like Arx and Helsing, they can connect these German and European industrial base with military innovation.
05:50So they can build a bridge between the front lines in Ukraine and our serial production in automotive in Germany.
05:58And Mark, who is it that is leading this defense capability buildup?
06:02Is it Europe? Is it NATO? Is it very much Germany?
06:06Who is pushing this forward right now?
06:07I think this is and must be the same.
06:12This is a common task.
06:15Europe and Germany is very aligned.
06:18So we consider ourselves as an upcoming military leader for Europe.
06:25And of course, we are absolutely aligned with NATO and its efforts.
06:30So it is a common effort.
06:33And I would involve Ukraine, of course, too.
06:36We can only protect Europe together.
06:39So there is no tension or difference between these institutions.
06:47In terms of what would happen if we were to see a peace deal in Europe, in Ukraine,
06:51would that change the nature of the debates, not the debates,
06:55the process that is unfolding in Germany, in Europe, in NATO?
07:00Were we to see a stabilization of the front line, what would happen next?
07:03How do you see the next five years if we were to see a peace deal in Ukraine?
07:09Depends.
07:11So my opinion is this depends on how this peace deal looks like.
07:15It's very concerning if Russia would be successful with this attack.
07:19And, you know, it means Europe understood and, you know, we didn't push the snooze button
07:28as we did in the past again.
07:30We understood that we need to build deterrence.
07:33We need to build capabilities to defend ourselves.
07:36And we understood that it's on us if we will see a war in Europe in the next years or centuries.
07:44It's on us because, you know, I was 14 years a military officer in infantry.
07:49And what I learned in officer school is that defense is to steal,
07:54to stop the attacker's desire to attack.
07:57And this is what Europe understood and this is what we are building together now.
08:00Can I just, just one final point, which I'd like to come back to,
08:05which is a moment ago you mentioned the auto sector.
08:07Should we consider the German auto sector to be part of the military complex?
08:14We must because, you know, economic growth and defense is something you need to build together.
08:22You need to achieve together to do it sustainably and to do it at scale.
08:26As I said, our industrial muscles in especially Germany but Europe are not in defense yet but in automotive.
08:36And new technologies like our robots, we already implemented or we already adapted production lines of,
08:44for example, engine producers to produce our systems at scale.
08:50And this is the only way how we can come to a scale of 100,000 systems for the east flank
08:58by activating these industrial resources we already have.
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