The Future of Defence and Security
A Strategic Foresight and Market Intelligence Report
Security threats are no longer confined to borders or battlefields. From AI-generated disinformation and cyber militias to contested energy routes, today’s threats emerge just as much from new technologies, fragile supply chains and societal fractures as from conventional weapons. Governments and industries face a security environment where old rules no longer apply, and new ones haven’t yet settled.
This report brings together quantitative market data from Statzon with qualitative foresight analysis from Futures Platform. By combining market data with analysis of emerging trends and disruptive wild card scenarios, it provides both a grounded view of current developments and a structured exploration of longer-term possibilities to support future-oriented decision-making.
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What’s inside the report?
The report is organised around five thematic chapters, with each chapter presenting both current market indicators with longer-term foresight analysis.
1. Artificial Intelligence and Autonomous Systems
The growing role of AI in defence operations: where investments are concentrating, which capabilities are maturing, and what future opportunities and risks it presents.
2. Geopolitical Shifts and Strategic Alliances
The reshaping of global power structures, including shifts in alliance networks, regional build-ups, and emerging strategic dependencies.
3. Next-Generation Weapon Systems & Defence Technologies
Developments in advanced weaponry, including directed energy weapons, wireless energy transfer, and soldier augmentation tools such as exoskeletons.
4. Hybrid Warfare in Cyberspace & Grey-Zone Conflicts
The expanding spectrum of non-kinetic conflict, from coordinated cyberattacks to influence operations and emerging norms of engagement.
5. Societal & Ethical Disruptions
How factors such as trust erosion, shifts in employment structures, and ethical dilemmas, particularly related to new technologies, are shaping public security.
About Futures Platform and Statzon
Futures Platform and Statzon form a merged entity combining strategic foresight and market intelligence into one comprehensive solution. Together, we help organisations make informed, future-oriented decisions by pairing reliable market data with expert analyses of long-term developments.
Our mission is to support better decisions in a world where change is constant but not always visible in the numbers. That’s why we bring together two complementary perspectives:
Statzon revolutionizes access to market information by aggregating insights from thousands of trusted market insight sources and research partners. With over one million market insights in the form of datasets and market research reports available through a single subscription, Statzon saves businesses time while delivering high-value intelligence.
Futures Platform supports foresight and strategy teams with a rich library of future phenomena and trend analyses developed by professional futurists. The platform combines expert insight with AI-enhanced tools to help organisations make sense of complex change and build actionable visions of the future.
Operating as one company, we equip decision-makers with a dual lens: a data-driven understanding of where things stand today, and a foresight-informed view of what could shape tomorrow. This integrated approach helps organisations stay ahead of change and make more resilient, future-fit decisions.