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AI in warfare
30 September 2026 (Last updated: 14 October 2026)
How the world regulates and controls artificial intelligence will shape every part of our future. At the sharp end, this includes whether people live or die: the state’s use of lethal force.
Airwars works witgh partners globally to assess current impact and detect upcoming challenges in this rapidly evolving space. We highlight areas where automation and speed risk removing humanity from the calculation.
Building a shared understanding of the full impact of AI in warfare on civilians - with governments, industry, militaries and the public - is a foundational step to prevent increased harm.
This all starts with evidence.
AI in the Kill Chain: Explained
ai-killchain.airwars.org ↗
27 Jul, 2026
Anatomy of an AI Kill Chain
Breaking down how militaries are offloading life and death decisions to flawed technologies
youtube.com ↗
Behind the AI Kill Chain: AI Now and Airwars project launch
Panel discussion with tech specialists, journalists and visual designers for Airwars and AI Now 'Anatomy of a kill chain' project
democracynow.org ↗
Militaries Rely on Mistake-Prone AI in Ukraine, Gaza & Iran: Expert analysis
Heidy Khlaaf speaks to Democracy Now! about new Airwars and AI Now project investigating the use of AI across the kill chain
Civilian harm from AI-assisted strikes
10 Mar, 2026
The first civilian confirmed killed in an AI-assisted strike?
U.S. military told Airwars/Independent investigation it has 'no way of knowing' whether deadly strike relied on AI, causing alarm amid AI-assisted Iran attacks
independent.co.uk ↗
AI, a dead student, and US airstrikes: How a civilian became caught up in a new age of warfare
As debate grows over the role of AI in military strikes in the bombing of Iran, scrutiny has turned to civilians caught up in the destruction. An investigation by The Independent and conflict monitoring group Airwars explores the death of a 20-year-old killed in a US strike in Iraq in 2024 – the first known victim of an airstrike in which the use of AI-assisted targeting was acknowledged.
independent.co.uk ↗
‘We want to use it for everything’: How Project Maven became central to America’s AI-powered warfare
AI is being increasingly used by the US military - and Project Maven is at its heart.
An investigation by The Independent and conflict monitoring group Airwars has found that Abdul-Rahman al-Rawi, a 20-year-old student, is the first civilian killed in a series of airstrikes that were acknowledged to have been carried out with the assistance of AI.
Tracking the pace and scale of AI warfare
6 Mar, 2026
Record pace of strikes in Iran bombing campaign: analysis
U.S. and Israel hitting more targets than any previous campaign, numbers suggest
The Iran War
Airwars' documentation of the war's deadly impact on civilians across the Middle East
Israeli Forces in Lebanon
In September 2024, the Israeli military began a major conflict with Lebanese group Hezbollah, following a year of escalating tensions and border strikes. A ceasefire in late November 2024 saw the intensity of violence decrease though Israel continued launching sporadic strikes. On March 2, 2026, against the backdrop of a war led by U.S. and …
Israel and Gaza (from 2023)
Following the Hamas-led assault into southern Israel on October 7th 2023, the Israeli military began a major bombing campaign and later ground invasion of Gaza. The resultant ongoing war has seen large-scale destruction and loss of life. Airwars has documented thousands of allegations of civilian harm from Israeli actions since October 2023, and has produced …
Expertise and impact
ohchr.org ↗
UN Fact Finding Mission for Iran
The UN finds "reasonable grounds to believe that the United States committed war crimes" during its Iran campaign in 2026. Airwars documented all civilian harm in the joint US-Israel operation, with our findings on the use of the US' new PrSM munition cited in the UN report.
bloomberg.com ↗
Inside the US ‘kill chain’ that destroyed an Iran school
Bloomberg analysis of the Minab school strike, citing Airwars' research