Kuala Lampur, Sept. 4 -- The wars in Ukraine and the Middle East are not only brutal reminders of geopolitics in flux; they also highlight a profound shift in the very character of warfare.

Autonomous systems - powered by artificial intelligence, robotics, and algorithmic decision-making - are rapidly moving from the periphery to the centre of modern combat. Their impact is not abstract, but concrete and immediate, reshaping naval warfare, aerial defence, and even the strategic imagination of states.

Consider Ukraine's unprecedented use of sea-based drones.

Once dismissed as experimental, these platforms have systematically targeted and crippled Russia's Black Sea Fleet. In doing so, Ukraine achieved what many military analysts deemed ...