French army hires science fiction writers to fight terror
Team of visionaries will imagine ‘scenarios of disruption’ to guide planning by top brass
THE French army is creating a “Red Team” of science fiction writers to help military strategists anticipate future threats to national security.
A report by France’s recently established Defence Innovation Agency says four or five visionaries are being hired to imagine “scenarios of disruption” that might not occur to military planners.
The possible sequences of events they come up with will remain top secret as they could be crucial in the fight against “malicious elements”, the report says.
Bruno Tertrais, deputy director of France’s Foundation for Strategic Research, said the role of the team would be to think more creatively than the military top brass and challenge “any certainties that we may have and hypothesise about the future outside the usual bureaucratic procedures”.
They will try to anticipate how terrorist groups or hostile states might use advanced technology against France.
He added that a similar exercise had been conducted in the United States, where science fiction writers took part in defence brainstorming sessions after the September 11 attacks.
“The [US] government considered that it had been the victim of a lack of imagination,” he said.
“It is certainly not the Red Team that will decide France’s military strategy and still less its defence policy. Its role will be to help the Defence Innovation Agency think about future technologies and their impact on strategies.”
Mr Tertrais said the writers would be expected to imagine more innovative scenarios than those explored in the popular Channel 4 series Black Mirror.
The initiative comes as France seeks more innovative approaches to defence.
During the Bastille Day military parade in Paris on July 14, Franky Zapata, an inventor, demonstrated his futuristic jet-propelled “flyboard”, soaring into the air on the hoverboardlike device above the assembled dignitaries and crowds of spectators.
After the demonstration, Emmanuel Macron, the French president, tweeted a video of the stunt with the message: “Proud of our army, modern and innovative”.
Mr Zapata, 45, a professional pilot, former jetskiing champion and military reservist, yesterday announced plans to cross the Channel on his flyboard, to mark the 110th anniversary of the first aircraft crossing, by his compatriot, Louis Blériot.
However, the authorities have warned that the venture would be highly dangerous.
It can fly for little more than 10 minutes, with a top speed of about 115 mph, meaning that the 21-mile crossing would be stretching the limits of its current capabilities.
On Bastille Day, France also showcased a device to combat drones – a rifle-shaped microwave jammer that blocks the pilot’s control signals, known as the Nerod F5.
In another military application of advanced technology, the French army is experimenting with robots that could help its forces to combat Islamist groups in Mali, West Africa.
Florence Parly, the defence minister, said the Barakuda, a “mule” robot, could soon be deployed to provide logistical support and ferry supplies to soldiers on the battlefield.
Other projects include “aircraft capable of interacting with drones and software capable of instantly analysing thousands of satellite images,” she said. Ms Parly added that scientists were also developing artificial intelligence systems to extend military capabilities.
‘They will challenge any certainties we may have and hypothesise about the future outside the usual bureaucratic procedures’