Securing Autonomous and Unmanned Vehicles for Mission Assurance

Unmanned vehicles with varying degrees of autonomy have the potential to deliver substantial operational value across an array of NATO missions, but with new possibilities come new security risks. Before these vehicles can be trusted to properly support a mission, such risks must be identified, assessed, and managed accordingly. However, as the range of the potential applications and capabilities of these vehicles is so vast, and the technology still not mature, it is important to lay a common foundation to derive consistent guidelines and achieve interoperable and effective security capabilities across NATO. This paper summarises preliminary results on common high-level security requirements based on a structured risk assessment of available missions and vehicles. This also includes the development of risk and security models tailored for unmanned and autonomous vehicles that can be refined and extended as new operational concepts and technological applications appear.