From Swarm Drones to Predictive Intelligence: The Expanding Role of Ai in Military Resilience Under Vuca–Bani Conditions

The integration of artificial intelligence (AI) in military systems is reshaping contemporary warfare in a fundamental way, particularly under conditions defined by volatility, uncertainty, complexity and ambiguity (VUCA), as well as brittleness, anxiety, nonlinearity and incomprehensibility (BANI). This paper examines the role of AI as a key enabler of military resilience across three interconnected domains: autonomous systems, data-driven intelligence and cyber defense. It first analyzes AI-enabled swarm drones with a focus on decentralized coordination and operational robustness manifested in contested environments. Afterwards, it explores predictive intelligence platforms, such as Project Maven and commercial data fusion systems, thus leveraging machine learning for real-time intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance (ISR) processing. Additionally, the paper investigates the applications of AI in cybersecurity regarding intelligent intrusion detection systems (IDS) and automated security operations. Beyond the technical capabilities, the paper emphasizes the critical role of civil-military collaboration, with a highlight on the dependence of military AI systems on dual-use technologies and private sector innovation, also addressing key challenges such as model reliability, adversarial threats and ethical accountability.