EUROCONTROL was proud to host the third edition of the International Defence Excellence and Security (IDEaS) Symposium at our Brussels headquarters on 8 September 2025.
The IDEaS Symposium is an annual forum that brings together innovation partners from government, industry and academia to share knowledge, explore new ideas and forge collaborations. Participants included defence and security decision-makers, academic experts and industry capability developers working at the forefront of technology and operations.
This year’s edition was held in association with the NATO Joint Capability Group UAS Fall Meetings 2025.
The focus was on trustworthy teaming between humans and AI-enabled autonomous systems for effective command and control (C2) decision-making, particularly in the design, development and deployment of unmanned aircraft systems (UASs).
Key topics included:
Artificial Intelligence offers transformative potential for military operations, but it is not a cure-all for human error. Many AI-enabled systems, such as UASs, operate in unpredictable environments where data sources may be incomplete or unreliable.
Trustworthy AI in defence requires:
When human operators and AI-enabled systems form a trusted partnership, they can deliver persistent and reliable C2 support — enabling information dominance and decision superiority.
Our Head of Civil–Military Cooperation, Major General Karsten Stoye, opened the Symposium addressing the challenges of artificial intelligence in an air traffic management environment.