Related news: Missile non-proliferation

On 8–10 September, SIPRI actively participated in the 2021 Science Peace Security Conference. The interdisciplinary conference focused on pressing challenges at the intersection of science, peace and security, and was held on the theme ‘The Impact of New Technologies: Destabilizing or Enabling Resilience?’.

SIPRI experts engaged in several sessions throughout the three days. Dr Sibylle Bauer, Director of Studies, Armament and Disarmament, was a member of the programme committee and moderated two panel discussions on the topics ‘Challenges for Arms Control Regimes: Complexities, Commonalities and Ways Forward’ and ‘Deconstructing Autonomous Weapon Systems: Drivers, Narratives, Perceptions’. Dr Bauer was also a discussant during the concluding panel on ‘New Technologies: Destabilizing or Enabling Resilience?’. Kolja Brockmann, Researcher, Dual-use and Arms Trade Control Programme, shared his expertise on confidence and transparency building in the face of new missile technologies and a new space industry. Luke Richards, Research Assistant, spoke on a panel entitled ‘Dual-use Technology and Responsible Innovation’, where he shared his expertise on responsible innovation for artificial intelligence.

The conference was hosted by the Physics Department of the University of Aachen and was funded by the German Foundation for Peace Research, the Volkswagen Foundation and the German Research Association for Science, Disarmament and International Security. Click here to read more about the conference.

On 8–14 November 2022, SIPRI hosted the seventh annual Stockholm Security Conference (SSC22) in a virtual format. Videos from the public sessions are now available on SIPRI’s YouTube channel.

The conference featured 14 sessions on the theme ‘Battlefields of the Future—Trends of Conflict and Warfare in the 21st Century: Effects and Impact of the War in Ukraine’. So far, the conference has engaged more than 1000 unique participants from around the world.

SSC22 explored the means and methods of warfare used in Ukraine and what implications they have for military spending, the development of new weapons and the role of information warfare. The conference also explored the effects of the war on the global multilateral system and regional dynamics as well as on old and new nuclear risks. The concepts of protection of civilians and urban warfare discussed during the 2021 conference have become even more relevant. This year’s conference explored the complexities surrounding the protection of civilians with a particular focus on gender and peacekeeping perspectives.

View the sessions from the 2022 Stockholm Security Conference here.

On 14–15 November 2022, SIPRI actively participated in the 11th annual EU Non-Proliferation and Disarmament Conference. The conference, which is funded by the European Union (EU), was organized by the Institute of International Affairs (IAI) on behalf of the EU Non-Proliferation and Disarmament Consortium (EUNPDC).

Dr Lora Saalman, Senior Researcher with SIPRI’s Armament and Disarmament and Conflict, Peace and Security research areas, chaired a session on cyber-security. Kolja Brockmann, Senior Researcher with the Dual-Use and Arms Trade Control Programme, was a speaker on a session on missile technology proliferation. In her capacity as Chair of the EU Non-proliferation and Disarmament Consortium, Dr Sibylle Bauer, Director of Studies, Armament and Disarmament, spoke on the concluding panel ‘The Next Generation in Non-Proliferation and Disarmament’.



On the sidelines of the conference, IAI also organized the annual EU Non-Proliferation and Disarmament Next Generation Workshop on behalf of the EUNPDC. On 14 November, Nivedita Raju, Researcher in SIPRI’s Weapons of Mass Destruction Programme, chaired a panel on the challenges of emerging technologies during this workshop. In the context of the Consortium, several SIPRI experts from the Armament and Disarmament research area are acting as mentors for the Young Women in Non-Proliferation and Disarmament Mentorship Programme; they joined the conference, workshop and a dedicated meeting about the mentorship programme, together with their mentees. More information about the mentorship programme is available here.

About the EU Non-Proliferation and Disarmament Consortium

The EUNPDC forms the core of a wider European network of non-proliferation and disarmament think tanks that the Consortium is responsible for promoting and coordinating. The EUNPDC is managed jointly by six institutes: the Foundation for Strategic Research (FRS), the Peace Research Institute Frankfurt (HSFK/ PRIF), the International Affairs Institute (IAI), the International Institute for Strategic Studies (IISS), the Vienna Center for Disarmament and Non-Proliferation (VCDNP) and SIPRI.

The EUNPDC aims to encourage discussion on  measures to combat the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction and their delivery systems within civil society—particularly among experts, researchers and academics in the EU and third countries. The scope of activities also covers issues related to conventional weapons, including small arms and light weapons. For more information about the Consortium click here.

Online event

Additive manufacturing (AM), often referred to as 3D printing, has been an important topic on the agenda of the Missile Technology Control Regime (MTCR), the multilateral export control regime focused on missiles and other uncrewed delivery systems. AM has become an attractive technology for the aerospace sector due to its ability to produce a wide range of complex items, including intricate missile engine components with internal cooling channels. At the same time, AM poses proliferation risks because it could help enable states and non-state actors to circumvent states’ export controls and produce items with new performance characteristics for missile programmes.

This webinar brings together a distinguished panel of technical and policy experts to discuss the challenges AM poses to export controls, and how they can be addressed through national and multilateral export control instruments such as the MTCR. The panel will explore what the MTCR does to address the proliferation challenge AM poses in the area of missiles, why a diverse set of stakeholders contributes to this proliferation risk, and how strengthened outreach to industry, research and AM service providers may be part of the solution to reducing these risks.

The webinar is the first in a series within a larger project conducted by SIPRI on ‘Quo Vadis MTCR: The Missile Technology Control Regime at a Crossroads’, with generous support from the German Federal Foreign Office and the Swiss Federal Department of Foreign Affairs.

Welcoming remarks

Dr Sibylle Bauer, Director of Studies, Armament and Disarmament, SIPRI; Chair, European Union Non-Proliferation and Disarmament Consortium.

Nicolas Plattner, Head of the Arms Control, Disarmament and Non-Proliferation Section; Deputy Head, International Security Division, Swiss Federal Department of Foreign Affairs.

Moderator

Kolja Brockmann, Researcher, Dual-use and Arms Trade Control Programme, SIPRI; Project lead, ‘Quo Vadis MTCR: The Missile Technology Control Regime at a Crossroads’.

Speakers

Andrew Horton (personal capacity), Chair, Technical Experts Meeting, MTCR; Government Senior Advisor on Export Control Technical Policy, British Government.

Robert A. Shaw, Program Director, Export Control and Nonproliferation Program, James Martin Center for Nonproliferation Studies, Middlebury Institute of International Studies.

Dr Andrea Viski, Director, Strategic Trade Research Institute; Editor-in-Chief, Strategic Trade Review; Adjunct Professor, Schar School of Policy and Government, George Mason University.

Watch a recording of the webinar here.

Event contacts (SIPRI)

Kolja Brockmann

Online event

The ‘NewSpace’ industry promises many opportunities for advances in the exploration and use of outer space. However, the space industry also contributes to making sensitive space launch technologies commercially available globally and potentially creates new pathways for missile proliferation. The changing nature of the commercial space industry and the challenges and opportunities it poses are important topics for the Missile Technology Control Regime (MTCR), the main multilateral export control regime focused on missiles and other uncrewed delivery systems.

This webinar brings together a distinguished panel of space, missile and export control experts from research, industry and policy to discuss the challenges the NewSpace industry poses to missile non-proliferation and export controls. The panel will explore how these challenges can be addressed through national and multilateral export control instruments such as the MTCR. The panellists will discuss the NewSpace industry and related missile proliferation risks. They will also consider how states can use export controls to promote legitimate commercial space activities while preventing those activities from contributing to missile proliferation.

The webinar is the second in a series within a larger project implemented by SIPRI on ‘Quo Vadis MTCR: The Missile Technology Control Regime at a Crossroads’, with generous support from the German Federal Foreign Office and the Swiss Federal Department of Foreign Affairs.

Welcoming remarks

Kolja Brockmann, Project Lead, ‘Quo Vadis MTCR: The Missile Technology Control Regime at a Crossroads’, and Researcher, Dual-use and Arms Trade Control Programme, SIPRI

Moderator

Nivedita Raju, Researcher, Weapons of Mass Destruction (WMD) Programme, SIPRI

Speakers

Almudena Azcárate Ortega, Associate Researcher​, Space Security and WMD Programmes, United Nations Institute for Disarmament Research (UNIDIR)

Andrew Horton (personal capacity), Chair, Technical Experts Meeting, MTCR; Government Senior Advisor on Export Control Technical Policy, British Government

Alan Thompson, Head of Government Relations, Skyrora Ltd

Watch a recording of the webinar here.