Many of the most innovative technologies and inventions were created with their potential use in military or defence operations in mind. GPS navigation and the Internet, which everyone uses every day and without which we can no longer imagine everyday life, were originally technologies developed by and for the military. Over time, these inventions has permeated into civilian life, while the army was already working on completely different solutions.
Nowadays, it's no different as the arms industry remains a conducive environment for innovation, actively supporting it. Although some of them are developed in secluded military research centres during peacetime, others are constantly developed and improved on the battlefield by engineers and soldiers struggling daily against the enemy. Since "necessity is the mother of invention", the latter are often characterized by extraordinary ingenuity and are often better adapted to battlefield conditions (e.g. in terms of ease of assembly, maintenance and repair).
Currently, most examples of this type of innovation resulting from "recon by fire" are provided by the ongoing war in Ukraine. This is the first armed conflict in which unmanned aerial vehicles, or drones, are used on such a large scale. Kamikaze drones (loitering munition), long-range drones, signal jammers to neutralize enemy drones – all these are the products of improving armaments in response to the enemy's actions.
The other side of this conflict doesn't bring up the rear, either. Recently, FPV (first-person view) units equipped with photovoltaic panels, guaranteeing an additional source of energyhave been spotted among Russian drones. They're replacing the previously used fibre-optic FPVs with limited range and payload capacity. FPV with optical fiber was developed after usage of electronic warfare means, such as the above mentioned signal jammers, has become widespread in the Ukrainian army. This drone type was connected by means of optical fiber to the control station in order to power it, although that strongly limited its area of operation (to approx. 20 km).
Examples of neutralizing technologically advanced missiles in ways both surprising in their simplicity and risky are well known from history. During World War II, Polish airmen were neutralizing German Fieseler F1 103 cruise missiles (popularly "V1"), poking the edge of the wing of such a missile with the wings of their own fighters. In this way, they disrupted the trajectory of the missile's flight, which missed the target.
Legal protection
How many of these innovations are protected by industrial property law? It's difficult to say. It can also be understood that in a situation of ongoing conflict, both parties may be reluctant to file a patent application and disclose related technical knowledge. Nowadays, armed conflicts are largely fought in cyberspace, and having an upper hand in the field of technology determines victory. Presenting formal documentation for the purposes of registration, even classified, poses a risk that it may fall into the wrong hands. Moreover, in the situation of an accelerated "arms race", inventions quickly appear and come into use, but can also be as quickly replaced by further, more efficient innovations. The last argument may be the fact that the rights to inventions of strategic importance for the national defence might be transferred to competent state entities and institutions in certain jurisdictions.
In Poland, the inventions of the armaments industry are protected by separate provisions of the Act on Industrial Property Rights of 30 June 2000. (Journal of Laws 2023.0.1170, i.e.). Chapter 4 of this Act defines the concept of a secret invention, i.e. one that relates to the defence or security of the State. The definition includes, in particular, types of weapons or military equipment, combat methods, used technical means, equipment and methods of its use by the arm forces.
Secret invention applications are not examined by the Patent Office, except for priority proceedings (Article 58). The transfer of the right to obtain a patent for the invention so filed passes to the State Treasury, in exchange for a compensation corresponding to the market value of the invention. In the industrial property law system, it is assumed that obtaining patent protection is bound to the publication of information about the invention – it's a cornerstone of the balance between public and private interest. However, not all inventions can or should be disclosed. In case of defensive purpose technologies of national or strategic importance, confidentiality is necessity and the protection of the public interest takes precedence over the public disclosure of technical solutions.
AI development and "battlefield conditions"
While soldiers develop their inventions in realities of frontline scarcity, the AI industry is already striving to design further solutions specifically tailored to function in difficult conditions. French company Neurobus, which manufactures neuromorphic chips and processors for the defence and space industries, may serve as an example.
Neuromorphic chips are biomimetic structures resembling human neural networks, capable of parallel processing. The memory and the computational unit are not separated in this case, but their processes take place in the same structures. Thanks to these properties, they are energy-efficient and ideal for use in the artificial intelligence sector.
One of the main challenges for the AI development is its huge demand for energy, computing power and data. Because these resources are limited (both planetwide or in hard-to-reach environments such as a space station or front line), a new, less energy-intensive infrastructure has to be developed. In consequence, the next stage in the history of AI development will be frugal artificial intelligence.
In addition to neuromorphic chips, the key direction of the
development of frugal AI is the search for new electronic materials
allowing to operate them in conditions of extreme energy shortage.
One of the most promising is molybdenum disulphide (MoS₂), a
thin-film semiconductor material that can replace silicon in very
low voltage power transistors. It is also used to create memristors
which combine memory and logic, thereby mapping the way the human
brain works.
Thanks to this, it is possible to build neuromorphic chips that
will work without cooling, without the Internet and without access
to the cloud, even in battlefield conditions
JWP and inventions in the military sector
Technologies created for national defence are not only weapons systems, combat software or advanced military sensors. Equally often, these are solutions that have a purely civilian application at first glance – such as mobile water treatment systems, emergency medical kits, portable power generators or modular photovoltaic installations. Their form is not as crucial as their capacity to function in crisis conditions, scarce resources and without access to infrastructure.
To learn more about the inventions with the potential for use in the military industry and inventors that our law firm represented and still represents, read the article on our blog: https://www.jwp-poland.com/will-the-poles-bring-a-soldier-of-the-future-into-being-exoskeleton-an-invention-with-a-patent-application-and-the-award-of-the-president-of-the-republic-of-poland
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