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The Economist 25 Jun 2026 55 here now

Germany’s army chief on AI, drones and the future of the tank | The Economist

Lieutenant General Christian Freuding, chief of the German army, talks to our host of Inside Defence, Shashank Joshi, about how land forces must change for the wars of the future: the balance between

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General Freuding ist ein sehr intelligenter Mann. Solche Führungspersonen sind extrem wichtig, in diesen Zeiten... Keine Show, sondern Inhalte und Weitsicht....
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For future reference, the piping on German tanker uniforms is piggy pink.
Gold piping is for recce only.
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Wir brauchen alles, mehr davon und schnell(er). Hm.
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The current German AI doctrine reads: ‚context appropriate human judgment and control‘ and not ‚human in the loop‘. That’s is a huge difference and suits modern approaches to AI enabled DMPs in armies.
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The main task for a future tank is, it must be able to protect itself against droneattacks - even against at least 5 attacks at the same time. If it is not, it will only be very expensive scrap metal.
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Er befiehlt, wir gehorchen, er genießt mein Vertrauen.
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General Freudig comes across as a competent and reasonable military commander. Germany must be happy to have him
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@mthebold From YouTube ↗ 30 Jun 2026 3
War is dynamic. The "balance" is constantly changing.
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war must be avoided by PEACE THROUGH STRENGTH
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Quality interview. Quality answers. Excellent journalism. 👍🏻
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Whenever I hear Germans speaking English with a German accent, it always sounds funny to me.
And yet, I’m German myself and sound exactly the same when I speak English.
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In short, a much smaller propotion of defence budgets will be spent on infantry and armour than in the recent past and much more on artillery (although not in the "classical" sense), which is the master of indirect fire.
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A thought-provoking discussion on how modern warfare is evolving. The future won't be defined by replacing traditional capabilities, but by integrating AI, autonomous systems, and data with proven platforms. The idea that "data is the new ammunition" is a powerful reminder that technology and information are becoming just as critical as physical assets in shaping tomorrow's battlefield.
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Lt. General Freuding is thinking 5 steps ahead.
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@me262omlett From YouTube ↗ 30 Jun 2026 189
Er hat das Karl Lauterbach Sprachpaket.
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Its funny that hes talking twice as fast in english than in german 🤣
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Exactly, Drones by themselves can slow the enemy but they can’t hold ground (ie the Baltic’s)
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"now itz not about getting ze information sondern handling ze mass of information ..." love it
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"at the end of the day, occupying a territory is a physical experience."
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The original Apple Macintosh behind him is the German defence against cyber-warfare. None of the viruses developed during the last 30 years will run on it.