Cluster for Natural and Technical Science Arms Control Research (CNTR)

The Russian invasion of Ukraine has drama­ti­cally raised aware­ness of the poten­tial dangers posed by defense inno­­vations, nuclear weapons, chemi­cal and biolo­­gical warfare agents, and digital warfare. Even if state-of-the-art weapon sys­tems were only used selec­­tively in Ukraine, the use of drones, high-preci­s­ion air defense sys­tems or cyber capa­bi­lities exem­p­lifies how much techno­logy can influence the balance of power on the battle­field. In extreme cases, new wea­pons techno­logy can disrup­tively reverse power relation­­ships and create uncer­tainty. The latter also applies to chemi­cal and biolo­gical weapons, even if they are merely used rheto­rically for propa­ganda and disin­for­mation purposes.

The goal of the Cluster for Natural and Technical Science Arms Control Research (CNTR) is to inves­ti­gate these dangers, to classify them in a scien­­tifically sound manner and, on this basis, to develop recommen­­dations for action to strengthen arms control. To this end, the cluster inte­­grates technical and scien­­tific findings and exper­tise into the inter­­discipli­nary discourse of peace and conflict research. Researchers from the natural and social sciences work closely together at PRIF and the Univer­­sities of Darmstadt and Giessen, in line with the recommen­­dations of the German Council of Science and Huma­nities on the further develop­­ment of peace and conflict research formu­lated in 2019.

At the same time, CNTR combines basic research and know­­ledge transfer in line with the motto of the Leibniz Asso­ciation “Theoria cum praxi”. In addition to disse­mi­nating research results via publi­ca­tions and various other formats, PRIF is there­fore deve­lop­ing a “CNTR Monitor: Techno­logy and Arms Control” together with the univer­­sities of Darm­­stadt and Giessen, which will provide annual infor­mation on new develop­­ments in arms control research starting in 2024.

The project is funded by the German Foreign Office for a period of four years (January 2023 to December 2026).

Two new research groups will be established as part of CNTR:

1. Emerging Disruptive Technologies

The Research Group “Emerging Disruptive Technologies,” established in 2023, addresses three key questions:

  1. How dangerous can new technological developments become from a security, ethical and legal perspective when they find their way into military use?
  2. How must verification measures be tailored to enable effective arms control of modern military technologies?
  3. How can new technologies help develop more reliable arms control and verification measures?

In order to obtain robust answers, the group is pursuing an inter­disciplinary research approach, combining political science with the natural sciences. Only the combi­nation of different perspec­tives can answer what can be achieved politi­cally (and with which actors), where techno­logical pitfalls lie, and how they can be over­come – possibly even through techno­logy itself. Therefore, the inter­disciplinary approach promi­ses effective approa­ches to strength­ening arms control, which is currently in a severe crisis.

The group focusses on the future and primarily looks at techno­logies that are considered as emer­ging disruptive techno­logies – that is, techno­logies which are capable of over­turning previous power struc­tures and might allow weaker challen­gers to overtake the milita­ries of previous­ly stronger players using inno­vations. These techno­logies include hyper­sonic missiles, mili­tary robotics, remotely piloted as well as autono­mous and semi-autono­mous weapon systems, nano­techno­logy, various forms of human enhance­ment, cyber opera­tions, militarily used Artificial Intel­ligence (AI) and Machine Learning, or even the military use of quantum computers.

Some of these technologies, such as hyper­sonic missiles, have already been deployed by at least some militaries. Other techno­logies, such as quantum compu­ters, are still years or even decades away from being ready for deploy­ment. For all of these techno­logies, traditio­nal quanti­tative arms control efforts such as ceilings and limits are difficult or virtually impos­sible to implement.

The group is led by Prof. Dr Dr Christian Reuter (Professor in the Department of Computer Science at TU Darmstadt and head of PEASEC) and Dr Niklas Schörnig (political scientist and economist, PRIF). The group also includes Liska Suckau (mechanical engineer and political scientist, PRIF) and Dr Thomas Reinhold (computer scientist, PRIF). Anna-Katharina Ferl and Jana Baldus (both PRIF) are associated.

2. Biological and Chemical Weapons Arms Control

The use of chemical weapons in Syria, the attacks with nerve agents and the Russian dis­in­formation campaign on alleged bio- and chemi­cal weapons activities in Ukraine have once again brought these weapons to the fore as threats to peace and security. Moreover, the pandemic ex­pe­rience of recent years has shown the impact that even unin­ten­tio­nal global disease out­breaks can have. It is therefore crucial to address the entire spectrum of chemi­cal and biolo­gical hazards as part of a com­pre­hensive peace and security policy. Particu­larly in con­junction with other new techno­­logies, such as arti­ficial intel­ligence or infor­mation techno­logy, scientific and techno­­logical develop­­ments in biology and chemistry could, on the one hand, change military calcu­­lations about the use­ful­ness of bio­lo­gical and chemi­cal weapons and, on the other, open up new oppor­tu­nities for streng­th­ening inter­na­tional bans on both categories of weapons. In view of the close inter­con­nection of political and techno­­logical aspects, CNTR’s research in this area is conducted on an inter­­disciplinary basis with strong partici­pation of scientific exper­tise and in coope­ration with the Depart­­ment of Biology and Chemistry at the Justus Liebig University of Giessen.

The group is led by Prof. Dr. Peter R. Schreiner, PhD (Professor of Organic Chemistry at Justus Liebig University Giessen) and Dr. Una Jakob (PRIF). The group also includes Dr Kadri Reis (PRIF).

The natural and technical science research is complemented by the research area “Arms Control Law”.


CNTR has its own website: www.cntrarmscontrol.org CNTR is on TwitterMastodon and Bluesky.

1
Quantentechnologie und ihre Sicherheitsrelevanz | 2024

Bühring, Lena / Gräfe, Markus (2024): Quantentechnologie und ihre Sicherheitsrelevanz, CNTR Fact Sheets, 29.2.2024.

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2
Verbesserte Glaubwürdigkeit: Zur Bedeutung der F-35A für die nukleare Teilhabe | 2023

Kuhn, Frank (2023): Verbesserte Glaubwürdigkeit: Zur Bedeutung der F-35A für die nukleare Teilhabe, PRIF Spotlight 12/2023, Frankfurt/M, DOI: 10.48809/prifspot2312.

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3
B-Waffen-Übereinkommen: Neunte Überprüfungskonferenz 2022 | 2023

Jakob, Una (2023): B-Waffen-Übereinkommen: Neunte Überprüfungskonferenz 2022, in: Vereinte Nationen, 6/2023, 276, https://zeitschrift-vereinte-nationen.de/(...).

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4
Making Nuclear Sharing Credible Again: What the F-35A Means for NATO | 2023

Kuhn, Frank (2023): Making Nuclear Sharing Credible Again: What the F-35A Means for NATO, War on the Rocks, 14.9.2023.

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5
Das Raketenabwehrsystem Arrow 3: Eine fragliche Beschaffung | 2023

Kuhn, Frank (2023): Das Raketenabwehrsystem Arrow 3: Eine fragliche Beschaffung, PRIF Blog, 25.8.2023.

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6
Kampfflugzeuge für die Ukraine und das Risiko der Eskalation: Ein Realitätscheck | 2023

Kuhn, Frank (2023): Kampfflugzeuge für die Ukraine und das Risiko der Eskalation: Ein Realitätscheck, PRIF Blog, 7.3.2023.

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