Executive Summary

The Strategic Imperative: NATO’s historical reliance on high-value, exquisite, and numerically constrained crewed platforms is increasingly challenged by sophisticated Anti-Access/Area Denial (A2AD) networks. To maintain credible deterrence and operational freedom of manoeuvre in the future operating environment, the Alliance must shift towards a force structure that balances ‘exquisite’ capability with ‘affordable mass’ using a High-Low mix approach.

The Solution: Autonomous Collaborative Platforms (ACPs) are mission-autonomous aerial systems designed to team dynamically with human crews. They are defined not by their airframes, but by their ability to provide mission-level autonomy, modularity, and scalability. By integrating ACPs, NATO can:

• Restore Mass: Saturate adversary defences and sustain high-intensity operations through ‘attritable’ variants.
• Expand Risk Tolerance: Execute high-threat missions such as C-A2AD, Deep Precision Strike (DPS), Integrated Air and Missile Defence (IAMD) within adversary Integrated Air Defence Systems (IADS), without risking aircrew.
• Achieve Cognitive Superiority: Shorten kill chains via AI-enabled human-machine teaming.

The Roadmap: This document outlines six lines of effort (LOEs) to harmonise Allied development:

1. Operational Innovation: Codifying doctrine and tactics, techniques, and procedures (TTPs) for ACPs.
2. Strategic Deterrence: Using ACPs as a signal of resolve and regional posture.
3. Force Design: Integrating modular platforms into digital C2 architectures.
4. Human-Machine Teaming: Building trust through Joint Cognitive Systems (JCS).
5. Industrial Resilience: Leveraging modularity for mission flexibility and at-the-edge logistics.
6. Governance and Ethics: Ensuring responsible AI use and legal legitimacy.

Conclusion: ACPs are not merely a technological upgrade; they are a means of operationalising the NATO Warfighting Capstone Concept (NWCC). This strategic roadmap ensures the Alliance is conceptually and organisationally prepared to deter future conflict and, if deterrence fails, to fight tomorrow and win decisively.

Setting the Foundation for NATO’s ACP Journey

This document sits at the beginning of NATO’s ACP journey, not its end. It does not mandate procurement or prescribe force structure; it establishes the conceptual and analytical foundation from which doctrine, requirements, and acquisition decisions can follow. The Lines of Effort outlined herein define the preparatory work that must begin now, so that the Alliance is ready to fight tomorrow and fight together.