Recent European Defence Agency (EDA) and NATO Science and Technology Organization (STO) technology foresight publications identified potentially disruptive technologies and discussed how the science and technology may affect the capabilities development of the EU and NATO.

Both publications give an opportunity to identify many common assessments in respect to forthcoming technology trends and their possible effect on the future battlespace. First, these trends obviously will influence the ends, ways and means to achieve the desired end-state of the operations. Second, ever more, the new disruptive technologies will be developed outside the traditional R&D sector, which will pose new challenges to defence planners. Third, in the contest of an interconnected, complex and information-dependent global society, technological developments will have a vital effect on the defence concepts, strategies, doctrines, tactics and procedures at all levels. Fourth, the role of robot and autonomous systems will increase and this will require new vision of planning for future warfare, including preparation of service members to operate these systems. Fifth, in the context of rapidly growing amount of data in security sector, the key importance of knowledge management and the application of big data analytics for defence purposes will escalate and will intensely influence defence strategies development. Finally yet importantly, the future battlespace will require development and employment of soldier systems, which means augmentation of individual human abilities using artificial intelligence, and enhanced human-machine teaming.

To reflect on these developments, and as a step in the implementation of the European Defence Agency Project „Predictive methodologY for TecHnology Intelligence Analysis“(PYTIA), the Journal of Defence & Security Technologies (JDST) is going to publish an Issue on “Defence Technology Foresight”.

Interested authors are invited to submit an original contribution addressing one or more of the following proposed topics:
- Identification of potentially disruptive technologies and how the science or technology may affect the capabilities development of the EU and NATO;
- Review of the current methodologies for technology forecasting (e.g. Horizon
- Scanning, Technology Watch, etc.) and ideas of new methodological approach to improve forecasting;
- Analysis of the ways in which technological advances may influence defence strategy development;
- Analysis of interrelationships among the determination of national interests, security risks for those interests, defence strategies to protect national interests and emerging disruptive technologies;
- Identification of plausible military implications resulting from the trends in defence technology domain which are applicable in the allied format and for the Nations;
- Knowledge management and the application of big data analytics for defence purposes;
- Augmentation of individual human abilities using artificial intelligence, and enhanced human-machine teaming;
- Formulation of recommendations how to improve the relationships between Science &
- Technology and defence policy and strategy development;
- Identification of future defence research needs based on an assessment of the impact of future technology trends on national/EU/NATO defence policy and planning.

Editors:
- Prof. Dr. Sc. Yantsislav Yanakiev from the Bulgarian Defence Institute “Prof. Tsvetan Lazarov”, Bulgaria
- Mr. Giuseppe Vella from Engineering Ingegneria Informatica S.p.A., Italy

Publication charges: Publication of the accepted paper in the JDST journal is free of charge.

Deadline: Authors are invited to submit full texts (using the JDST template in ODT format or JDST template in DOCX format) by the end of April 2019. We accept articles in English language only.

Expected date of publication: The online publication of this special issue is scheduled for the end of May 2019, and the printed version – for June 2019.