Our perspective on the current state of world affairs

There is no discussion that current times are troubled ones. Fundamental values that have underpinned our way of life for decades are now under threat. To some, this seems like an evolution without actual consequences on their lives, to others an inevitability or even a positive step towards something else more in line with their beliefs. At Dorylid Systems, we do not share these views. We believe that each individual carries their part of responsibility for the state of the world, that inaction is a choice, and that this choice is at present unacceptable. In Sun Tzu’s words: “The opportunity to secure ourselves against defeat lies in our own hands, but the opportunity of defeating the enemy is provided by the enemy himself.” Europe must now choose whether it wants to secure itself, or to offer its many enemies the means of its own defeat. Dorylid Systems is both our answer and our choice, the manifestation of our belief that our civilization deserves defending against the many threats it currently faces.

Unfortunately, at a time where the conflict in Ukraine is demonstrating on a daily basis that cheap low-tech attritionable systems have become a game-changer in the way conflicts are being fought, we can only observe that European forces field an inadequate high-low mix of weapon systems, and that Europe keeps falling behind across the board in production capabilities and practical engineering know-how compared to major world powers (Russia, USA, China). In particular, we consider the exclusive focus of European industrial stakeholders on high-added value (read: profitable because expensive) high-tech systems to be a mistake from a defence perspective.

Envisioned as a resolutely European company, Dorylid Systems is our contribution towards correcting those limitations. Our vision is to become the de facto standard for AI-enabled swarm applications to be designed, trained and deployed ad hoc in the field, as well as for all the ancillary tools required for this purpose. In particular, we see an opportunity to leverage the untapped power of compound AI in a manner that has so far being ignored, i.e., by developing complete pipelines that start with in silico training of AI components and end with their actual deployment. We are certain that the agile development of swarms of small, cheap, robust autonomous or semi-autonomous agents will naturally establish itself as a most important technological tool for ensuring that Europe retains sufficient military capabilities in the 21st century. And we hope that, by doing what needs to be done now, we can pave the way for more peaceful applications of our technology when the storm clears, hopefully in a near future.