IEEE - Aerospace and Electronic Systems - January 2023 - 106

Feature Article:
DOI. No. 10.1109/MAES.2022.3228300
AI for Aerospace and Electronic Systems: Technical
Dimensions of Responsible Design
Wolfgang Koch , Fraunhofer FKIE, D-53343 Wachtberg, Germany
COMMITMENT TO THE MORAL REALMS
In order to protect their common heritage of culture, personal
freedom, and the rule of law in fragile world, which
is already at war, democracies must be able " to fight at
machine speed " if necessary. For this reason, digitization
in defense cannot be confined to military logistics, predictive
maintenance, intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance
(ISR), but must equally enable responsible
weapons engagement, where aerospace and electronic systems
(AES) play a crucial role.
" The more lethal and far-reaching the effect of weapons
are, the more necessary it is that people behind the
weapons know what they are doing, " observes Wolf von
Baudissin (1907-1993), the visionary architect of
Germany's post-World war II armed forces, the Bundeswehr.
" Without the commitment to the moral realms, the
soldier threatens to become a mere functionary of violence
and a manager, " he continues and thoughtfully adds: " If
this is only seen from a functional point of view, i.e., if the
goal to be achieved is in any case above human beings,
armed forces will become a danger " [1].
In this spirit and with a focus on new generation air
combat systems, where manned jet aircraft are elements
of a networked system of systems operating with
unmanned " remote carriers " in ISR, electromagnetic warfare,
and combat missions, we consider aspects of ethically
aligned systems engineering that might enjoy
broader consent within the international community [2].
Without using artificially intelligent automation, a key
technology that technically enhances the natural intelligence
and deliberate autonomy of personal beings, i.e.,
humans, in certain cases even beyond natural levels, future
AES for defense can no longer be mastered. The question
Author's current address: Wolfgang Koch is with
Fraunhofer FKIE, D-53343 Wachtberg, Germany (email:
Wolfgang.Koch@fkie.fraunhofer.de).
Manuscript received 27 August 2022; accepted 10
October 2022, and ready for publication 12 December
2022.
Review handled by Hugh Griffiths.
0885-8985/22/$26.00 ß 2022 IEEE
106
of how to deal with such technologies in a responsible
way does not only arise in engaging artificial intelligence
(AI)-based weapon systems, but in the demand to design
them in terms of systems engineering in such a way that
their responsible use is technically facilitated and encouraged.
Democratic countries must not betray their ethical
values, way of life, and legal systems by defending themselves
in contradiction to their foundational principles.
Our considerations correspond to standardization
efforts such as the IEEE 7000-2021 Model Process for
Addressing Ethical Concerns During System Design [3].
A relatively large community of engineers, computer scientists,
philosophers, and sociologists is analyzing ethical
problems of digital technologies and mitigating them
throughout the various stages of system initiation, analysis
and design for particular use cases. See, for example, [4].
CURRENT DEBATES ON LAWS
" We reject Lethal Autonomous Weapon Systems (LAWS)
that are completely removed from human control, " states
the foundational document of the incumbent German government,
to take an example, as in recent legislative periods
[5]. Without precisely defined terms, however,
demands that Germany " will take a leading role in developing
a new treaty, binding under international law, to
regulate weapon systems that are autonomous in their critical
functions that select and engage targets without
human intervention, " are problematic. For the sake of clarity,
the Bundeswehr tries to avoid the term " autonomy "
because it obscures gradual differences. It considers the
term " automation " to be more appropriate, which, after
stages of partial automation, also includes full automation.
Ambiguities in the public usage oflanguage may lead to
ambiguity in this context, which may cause premature stigmatization
in public debates. The idea of a technical
" deliberate decision of will " that a technically uneducated
observer might associate with the term " technical autonomy "
is absurd. In this sense, also the term " artificial
intelligence " is problematic, which seems to have become
unavoidable.
It would be uncontroversial ifbinding international treaties
mandated the retention of genuine ( " meaningful " )
IEEE A&E SYSTEMS MAGAZINE
JANUARY 2023
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IEEE - Aerospace and Electronic Systems - January 2023

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