Books
A small reading list on AI in defence, autonomous weapons, drone warfare, and military robotics.
A focused reading list on AI in defence, autonomous-weapons doctrine, drone warfare, military robotics, and intelligence collection. Newest publications first.
For broader reading on artificial intelligence as a field — books on consumer AI, the science behind LLMs, AI ethics, and the people building it — see the parent reading list at prometheusroot.com.
57 books.
2026Project Maven
Katrina Manson
The inside story of the secret Pentagon project that pushed America into the age of algorithmic warfare — and the contractors, including Palantir, who built it.
2026Rise of the Machines
Illya Sekirin
A tactical and operational study of how drones reshaped the Russia-Ukraine war.
- 2026
Rethinking Remote Warfare
James Wesley Hutto, and James Patton Rogers
Rethinking Remote Warfare
James Wesley Hutto, and James Patton Rogers
An edited volume on how the high-tech wars of the 2020s emerged — from the war on terror to Russia-Ukraine — and where AI and drone warfare is heading.
2025The Technological Republic
Alexander C. Karp, and Nicholas W. Zamiska
Palantir's co-founder argues for a renewed alliance between Silicon Valley and the state — a manifesto for Western technological hard power.
2025AI, Automation, and War
Anthony King
A field-research-driven debunking of the "AI replaces commanders" thesis — AI as a depth-and-speed tool for human judgement, not a substitute.
- 2025
The Remote Revolution
Erik Lin-Greenberg
The Remote Revolution
Erik Lin-Greenberg
How drones reshape statecraft, escalation and the political cost of using force — drawn from wargames, surveys and US and Israeli cases.
2025Beast in the Machine
George M. Dougherty
2025Warfare in the Robotics Age
Ash Rossiter, and Peter Layton
A critical assessment of military robotic systems — past, present and future — and the opportunities, challenges and dangers they bring.
2024The AI Military Race
Denise Garcia
On the global race to militarise AI and the governance gap around autonomous weapons.
2024The Ethics of Artificial Intelligence in Defence
Mariarosaria Taddeo
A Just-War-rooted ethical framework for AI in defence — five principles for governing intelligence analysis, cyberwarfare, and autonomous weapons.
2024The AI Commander
James Johnson
Examines how AI and autonomy will reshape command in algorithmic warfare and whether machines should make strategic decisions in place of humans.
2024Algorithms of Armageddon
George Galdorisi, and Sam J. Tangredi
Surveys how AI is reshaping the conduct of future warfare across services.
- 2024
Cold War 2.0
George S. Takach
Cold War 2.0
George S. Takach
Maps the emerging AI-driven contest between the US and China across military, economic, and intelligence domains.
- 2024
De Gruyter Handbook of Drone Warfare
James Patton Rogers
De Gruyter Handbook of Drone Warfare
James Patton Rogers
A comprehensive scholarly handbook covering the doctrine, technology, and policy of drone warfare.
2024AI for Defense and Intelligence
Patrick T. Biltgen
A working textbook on AI for the defence-and-intelligence community.
2023Deterrence under Uncertainty
Edward Geist
Studies how AI will and won't change the logic of nuclear deterrence.
2023Four Battlegrounds
Paul Scharre
Maps the strategic competition over AI across data, compute, talent, and institutions, with heavy defence focus.
2023The Coming Wave
Mustafa Suleyman
2023The AI Wave in Defence Innovation
Michael Raska (ed.), and Richard A. Bitzinger (ed.)
An international, interdisciplinary survey of military AI strategies — major and middle powers compared.
2022The New Fire
Ben Buchanan, and Andrew Imbrie
Frames AI as a transformational force shaping war, peace, and great-power competition.
2022New Fire
Ben Buchanan, and Andrew Imbrie
2022Fighting Machines
Dan Saxon
A study of how autonomous weapons challenge human dignity, accountability, and the laws of armed conflict.
- 2022
AI for Digital Warfare
Niklas Hageback
AI for Digital Warfare
Niklas Hageback
Examines weaponised AI in psychological and hybrid warfare campaigns.
- 2022
War Transformed
Mick Ryan
War Transformed
Mick Ryan
A retired Australian general maps how AI, autonomous systems, and information warfare are re-making the character of great-power conflict.
- 2022
Artificial Intelligence with Chinese Characteristics
Jinghan Zeng
Artificial Intelligence with Chinese Characteristics
Jinghan Zeng
Analyses how China's political system and strategic ambitions shape its development and deployment of artificial intelligence, including for military ends.
2021The Centaur's Dilemma
James E. Baker
How national security law applies to AI, including the law of armed conflict and arms control.
2021Artificial Intelligence and the Future of Warfare
James Johnson
On AI-infused weapon systems, deterrence, and strategic stability between nuclear-armed states.
2021The Age of A.I.
Henry Kissinger, Eric Schmidt, and Daniel Huttenlocher
2021This Is How They Tell Me the World Ends
Nicole Perlroth
A decade of reporting on the zero-day exploit market and state-sponsored cyber arsenals reveals how AI-assisted offensive cyber has become a permanent instrument of war.
2021AI at War
Sam J. Tangredi
Multi-author volume on how AI and machine learning are reshaping naval warfare and national security.
2021I, Warbot
Kenneth Payne
On pilotless drones, robot tanks, and the strategy and ethics of intelligent military systems.
2021Evaluating the Effectiveness of Artificial Intelligence Systems in Intelligence Analysis
Daniel Ish
A taxonomy and quantitative framework for measuring AI's value to military and intelligence analysis.
- 2020
The Drone Age
Michael J. Boyle
The Drone Age
Michael J. Boyle
A comprehensive analysis of how drones are being used by states and non-state actors and what that means for international order.
2020The Kill Chain
Christian Brose
A former Senate Armed Services Committee staff director argues the Pentagon must urgently adopt AI and autonomous systems or lose to China.
2020The Kill Chain
Christian Brose
A Senate Armed Services insider argues the US must rebuild around software, autonomy, and networks.
- 2020
The Kill Chain
Christian Brose
The Kill Chain
Christian Brose
A former Senate Armed Services Committee staff director argues the US military must rebuild around networked autonomous systems or lose the next war.
- 2020
New Laws of Robotics
Frank Pasquale
New Laws of Robotics
Frank Pasquale
A legal scholar argues for regulating AI — including military AI — to preserve human agency and accountability in lethal decisions.
2020Artificial Intelligence, Cybersecurity and Cyber Defense
Daniel Ventre
Analyses the appropriation of AI by armed forces, intelligence agencies, and police, and its place in conflict.
2020Artificial Intelligence and Global Security
Yvonne R. Masakowski
Edited volume on the integration of AI in military affairs and its implications for global security.
2020Artificial Intelligence: A National Strategic Initiative
Tencent Research Institute
China's technology establishment maps the country's AI national strategy, its competitive positioning against the West, and the sectors — including defence — it aims to dominate.
2019Army of None
Paul Scharre
The seminal book on autonomous weapons — what they are, who is building them, and the rules nobody has written yet.
2018Army of none
Paul Scharre
2018Strategy, Evolution, and War
Kenneth Payne
On how AI will revolutionise strategy-making in war, including machine-on-machine decision speed.
2017Robot Ethics 2.0
Patrick Lin, Ryan Jenkins, and Keith Abney
An updated anthology of philosophical analysis covering military robots, drone warfare, and the ethics of lethal autonomy.
- 2016
Drones
Sarah Kreps
Drones
Sarah Kreps
A concise Q&A-format primer on military drones: how they work, who uses them, and why it matters.
2016Drone
Hugh Gusterson
An anthropologist examines the culture, ethics, and geopolitical consequences of the drone-warfare era.
2016Rise of the Machines
Thomas Rid
How cybernetics — the science of man-machine control — became the intellectual foundation of modern military systems.
2016Autonomous Weapons Systems
Nehal Bhuta, Susanne Beck, Robin Geiß, Hin-Yan Liu, and Claus Kreß
Hardback edition of the same edited volume.
2016Killer Robots
Armin Krishnan
A legal and ethical examination of autonomous weapon systems and the prospects for regulating them.
2015Sudden Justice
Chris Woods
An investigative journalist documents the covert U.S. drone war across Pakistan, Yemen, Somalia, and beyond.
2015The Pentagon's Brain
Annie Jacobsen
A comprehensive history of DARPA covering the origins of autonomous systems, AI warfare research, and the hidden programs shaping future conflict.
- 2015
Drone Theory
Grégoire Chamayou
Drone Theory
Grégoire Chamayou
A French philosopher dissects the doctrine, ethics, and politics of targeted drone killing, from manhunt logic to the bureaucracy of death.
2012Intelligence Collection
Wayne Michael Hall, and Gary Citrenbaum
A doctrine-level treatment of intelligence collection in complex, contested environments — pre-AI, foundational reading.
2009Wired for War
P. W. Singer
A sweeping survey of how robotics and unmanned systems are remaking the face of war.
2009Governing Lethal Behavior in Autonomous Robots
Ronald C. Arkin
A roboticist argues that autonomous systems with embedded ethical governors could comply with the laws of war more reliably than stressed human soldiers.
2008Moral Machines
Wendell Wallach, and Colin Allen
A foundational examination of machine ethics and the challenge of programming autonomous robots to make morally acceptable decisions in warfare and beyond.
2008Moral Machines
Wendell Wallach, and Colin Allen
Explores whether autonomous machines can be built to make ethical decisions, with direct implications for military robots.
For broader AI reading — consumer AI, the science behind LLMs, AI ethics, and the people behind the field — see the parent reading list at prometheusroot.com.