★ A Landmark Work by Leading Military Experts
This book is co-authored by Dr. Dean-Peter Baker, Director of the Military Ethics Research Laboratory, and Dr. Mark Hilborne, Senior Lecturer in the Department of Defence Studies at King’s College London. Both authors have extensive experience in military strategy, ethics, and policy research, combining academic rigor with practical military expertise.

★ Addressing Cutting-Edge Issues in Future Warfare
Focusing on the transformation of warfare within the context of the Fourth Industrial Revolution (4IR), the book covers emerging domains such as quantum technologies, artificial intelligence, hypersonic weapons, space warfare, and autonomous weapon systems. It examines how the convergence of these technologies is exponentially reshaping the battlefield landscape and accelerating the pace of combat.

★ An Interdisciplinary Strategic Perspective
By integrating military ethics, international law, strategic studies, and the politics of technology, the book explores key concepts like “technological democratization” and “hybrid warfare,” offering a systematic framework for understanding the ambiguity, fragility, and uncertainty inherent in future conflicts.

★ Practice-Oriented and Operationally Relevant
In response to contemporary security concerns, the book addresses a wide range of topics—from the future challenges confronting the Royal Air Force to China’s space warfare strategy; from international debates over lethal autonomous weapon systems to the application of just war theory in a rapidly changing world. It provides actionable analytical tools for military leaders, policymakers, and security scholars.

This book examines the impact of technology and emerging domains on the future of warfare. It identifies several key themes, emphasizing the growing complexity of the security environment and the inherent uncertainties of future conflict. Advances in quantum technologies, cyberspace capabilities, artificial intelligence, sensing and data-collection systems, and next-generation propulsion technologies such as hypersonics are reshaping our sense of time and speed. Concepts like hybrid warfare and sub-threshold tactics, alongside increasingly contested domains such as space, are challenging the very nature and scope of the battlespace. The rapid evolution of long-range and autonomous operations is further transforming the operational landscape. Meanwhile, commercial innovations are influencing ownership and governance models in military production, as well as the composition of armed forces.
As a result, a convergence of new technologies is creating the potential for multifaceted, transformative change. This wave of technological disruption is often referred to as the Fourth Industrial Revolution (4IR), characterized by the integration and synergy of emerging technological fields that drive exponential—rather than linear—change. While these developments may not alter the fundamental nature of war as described by Clausewitz, they are likely to significantly reshape its character. From a military perspective, the critical dimensions lie in their effects on the tempo of operations and the configuration of the operational domain—in other words, on the interplay of time and space. Collectively, these shifts will increasingly influence how states perceive one another and the degree of certainty they can achieve when approaching or becoming embroiled in conflict.

Dr. Dean-Peter Baker (Editor)
Professor of Ethics in the Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences at the University of New South Wales Canberra, and Director of the Military Ethics Research Laboratory and Innovation Network (MERLIN). He is also a Senior Visiting Research Fellow at the Centre for Military Ethics at King’s College London.
A former army officer specializing in military ethics, he also teaches and writes on strategic studies and public policy. Previously, he taught at the United States Naval Academy and held visiting positions at the U.S. War College and the Triangle Institute for Security Studies (Duke University).
He co-authored with Roger Barker the first comprehensive monograph on the ethics of special operations, published in 2023 as “The Ethics of Special Operations: Raiding, Recovery, Reconnaissance, and Counterinsurgency” by Cambridge University Press. Other publications include:
2023, “Ethics in War: How Should Soldiers Make Ethical Decisions?”
2022, “Should We Ban Killer Robots?” published by John Wiley & Sons
2020, “Morality and Ethics in War: Bridging the Gap Between Soldiers and the State,” Bloomsbury Academic
2016, “Citizen Killing: Liberalism, State Policy, and Moral Risk,” Bloomsbury Publishing
2015, “Key Concepts in Military Ethics,” University of New South Wales.


Dr. Mark Hilborne (Editor)
Senior Lecturer in the Department of Defence Studies at King’s College London, based at the UK Defence Academy. His research focuses on space and strategic stability. Holding a PhD from the University of Cambridge, he has recently published papers on space surveillance, UK space policy, and China’s space program. In 2014, Dr. Hilborne founded the Space Security Research Group to enhance understanding of the space domain.
Dr. Hilborne joined the Department of Defence Studies at King’s College’s Joint Services Command and Staff College in September 2004. He previously served briefly in the Air Force Studies Department as Assistant Director for Air Power Studies and Head of Research and Teaching, before returning to the Staff College in April 2008.
Prior to joining King’s College, he was a lecturer at the University of Birmingham and a visiting researcher at the United Nations Institute for Disarmament Research (UNIDIR) in Geneva. He earned his PhD in International Relations from the University of Cambridge in 2000, and holds an MPhil in Philosophy from Cambridge as well as a BA from the University of British Columbia in Vancouver.
Dr. Hilborne’s research centers on strategic stability, deterrence, and arms control, with particular emphasis on nuclear weapons and outer space.
In addition to his work in the Department of Defence Studies, Dr. Hilborne has taught the Master’s course on Modern World Air Power for nine years and served as Chair of the Examination Board for four years.

Research Interests:
Mark is currently completing a report funded by the UK Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC) on UK space policy, intended to be the first in a series focusing on the future direction of the UK’s space efforts. He is also writing articles on space deterrence and the relationship between space and the military-industrial complex.

Teaching:
Primarily teaches advanced courses and all Royal Air Force divisional courses.
Master’s seminar: Arms Control and Disarmament
Operational Research: Gulf War I
Air Power Studies, Online War Studies

Publications:
“Space: Ambiguity, Vulnerability, and Evolving Characteristics,” Future Warfare, Canberra, forthcoming.
Contributor to the document outlining principles for the development and use of autonomous weapon systems, submitted in August 2019 to the Governmental Group of Experts on Autonomous Weapon Systems (GGE) under the framework of the United Nations Convention on Certain Conventional Weapons (CCW).
“Conventional Prompt Global Strike: Enhancing Deterrence?” Air Power Review, July 2017, Vol. 20, No. 2, pp. 182–190.
“Mitigating Disinformation Campaigns Targeting Air Power: The United Kingdom,” Journal of the NATO Allied Air Command Capability Center, May 2017, pp. 83–101.
“China,” Space Policy, August 2016, Vol. 37, No. 1, pp. 39–45.
“The Implications of China’s Rise in Space,” ESPI Space Policy Yearbook, Vienna, 2015.
“The Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons,” in Harsh, P., ed., Handbook of Nuclear Proliferation, Abingdon: Routledge, 2012, pp. 251–260.
“UK Space Policy,” Air Power Review, 2009, Vol. 12, No. 2.
“Space Weapons: A Technological Folly?” in B. Rappert, ed., Technology and Security: Responding to the Threats of the New Millennium, Palgrave Macmillan, 2007, pp. 171–192.

Preliminary Pages
Introduction

1. Accelerated Change—The Evolving Character of Society and Conflict in an Age of Speed, Uncertainty and Transformation
2. The Democratisation of Technology: Opportunities and Threats
3. Future Warfare: Developing a Viable Strategy
4. Space: Ambiguity, Vulnerability and a Changing Character
5. Space Warfare and Military Power
6. China and Space Warfare
7. Quantum Technologies: An Introduction and a Vision of their Impact on War
8. The Distance Paradox: Reaper, the Human Dimension of Remote Warfare and Future Challenges for the Royal Air Force
9. The Role of an Operational Frame in Furthering the International Debate on Lethal Autonomous Weapons Systems
10. Lessons from Tradition: Just War, Wisdom and Restraint in a Changing World

Conclusion– Mark Hilborne
Index