Journal on Baltic Security

Based on a review of over sixty publications, this article develops a research agenda for the study of contemporary total defence. Despite renewed policy relevance, the literature remains fragmented across national traditions, sectors, and levels of analysis. To address this gap, the article applies a multilevel-governance perspective and develops an integrated analytical framework for comparative research. It conceptualises total defence across four dimensions – domestic vertical governance, transnational linkages, cross-sectoral coordination, and horizontal state-society relations – thus providing a coherent basis for future scholarship while remaining open to diverse theoretical approaches.

This article examines vulnerabilities in Sweden’s logistics and infrastructure systems within the total defence framework and considers which lessons from Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine may inform efforts to strengthen national resilience. Using qualitative analysis of policy documents, infrastructure disruptions, and Ukraine’s wartime experiences, the study conceptualises logistics as a strategic capability linking civilian infrastructure and military operations. The findings identify vulnerabilities in fragmented coordination structures, transport capacity constraints, and insufficient infrastructure repair capability. Ukraine’s experience highlights the importance of redundancy, decentralised repair capacity, and adaptive civil-military cooperation for maintaining logistical functionality under conditions of sustained disruption.

The Russo-Ukrainian war, that was forecasted by some experts to last merely a few days, is already into its 5th year. Mounting evidence conveys that Russia started the invasion of Ukraine by ignoring all of the concepts it had been advocating and implementing since the beginning of its military reform in 2008. The war has demonstrated several essential changes in the battlefield operations, war-waging practices, recruitment of troops, and force structures.

Poland’s rapid expansion of offshore wind farms (OWFs) in the Baltic Sea elevates them to the status of critical infrastructure central to energy security. This article examines the legal responsibilities, institutional arrangements, and operational challenges in protecting OWFs against hybrid threats such as sabotage, espionage, and cyberattacks. It analyses national frameworks, EU directives (CER and NIS2), and the roles of the Navy, Border Guard, Maritime Offices, Government Centre for Security (RCB), and private operators. This work offers a responsibility matrix which highlights both institutional overlaps as well as gaps. The article concludes with recommendations for legal reforms, capability development, and inter-agency coordination to strengthen Poland’s offshore wind infrastructure.

Suspected sabotage to submarine communication cables (SCCs) across the world has raised questions about the resilience of these systems. Data communication networks typically use a network approach, which spreads the networks’ capacity across diverse routes to provide redundancy. This study takes a risk mitigation and resilience perspective by investigating the information needed to support proactive rerouting decision-making. This study reveals that appropriate situational awareness is dependent on specific, real-time information about hazards and threats to the cable in question. For an operator of an SCC, such a contribution is not possible without being interpreted as an integral stakeholder in defence.

We educate tomorrow’s military leaders for operations involving tools we cannot access, doctrine not yet codified, and threats evolving faster than curricula. This article presents empirical findings from systematic exploration of human-AI collaboration in military education involving thirteen Baltic-Nordic defence organisations. Through AI-assisted facilitated workshops, three empirically grounded patterns of human-AI collaboration emerged alongside a command-control distinction derived from practitioner wisdom. The probe-sense-respond methodology enabled pattern discovery where traditional planning approaches fail. Findings offer transferable frameworks for professional military education institutions navigating AI integration while maintaining human primacy in command authority. Regional collaboration achieved what no single institution could accomplish independently.

This review assesses Ethan Mollick’s Co-Intelligence: Living and Working with AI (2024), which conceptualises artificial intelligence as a collaborative “co-intelligence” rather than a mere tool or autonomous agent. While recognising the book’s clarity, accessibility, and balanced treatment of AI’s potential and limitations, the review adopts a cautious, albeit critical, perspective in an effort to balance against Mollick’s overarching optimism. It foregrounds concerns related to safety, equity, sustainability, and risk. The book’s discussion of education is identified as a key strength, particularly its emphasis on AI literacy and human oversight. Considered through the lens of Professional Military Education (PME), Mollick’s advocacy for experimentation is shown to sit uneasily with risk-averse, high-stakes environments. Nonetheless, the review concludes that Co-Intelligence offers a timely, pragmatic, and valuable contribution to debates on human-AI interaction.

Artificial Intelligence (AI) is increasingly discussed as a transformative tool for professional military education, particularly through simulations, adaptive learning platforms, and data-driven assessment systems. However, the integration of AI into military education has largely proceeded without sufficient attention to gender equality, despite extensive evidence that algorithmic systems can reproduce and amplify existing social biases. Drawing on interdisciplinary literature on AI and education, feminist military studies, and international policy frameworks such as NATO’s Principles of Responsible Use and the Women, Peace and Security (WPS) agenda, this article critically examines the implications of AI-supported military education from a gender perspective.

This article examines how Professional Military Education (PME) can strengthen human interoperability as NATO transitions toward data-centric warfighting. While artificial intelligence and data integration drive technological transformation, their effectiveness depends on officers’ ability to cooperate across national and institutional boundaries. The central claim of this article is that standardised heuristics – conceptual models taught in PME – function as critical cognitive tools enabling such interoperability. Using a qualitative, conceptual design, this study assesses established frameworks such as Ends-Ways-Means, fighting power, and the interoperability schema. The analysis suggests that these heuristics stabilise cognition, foster shared understanding, and anchor NATO’s digital transformation in human coherence.

NATO’s 2030 digital transformation demands innovative approaches to harness specialised capabilities and ensure readiness against hybrid threats. Cyber reserves are pivotal in bridging military and civilian technologies, enabling digital objectives, and countering sophisticated tactics like cyberattacks and GPS jamming. These reserves integrate military training with civilian expertise, leveraging private sector knowledge – controlling 90% of critical infrastructure – as a strategic asset. They serve as a force multiplier in digital transformation, connect industry and technology to military planning, and enable rapid deployment of advanced capabilities like cloud, AI, and data analytics. Cyber reserves enhance a country’s response to hybrid threats by improving vulnerability assessment, attribution, and civil-military coordination, emphasising societal resilience and military preparedness. They foster digital literacy, cultural change, and partnerships with industry and academia to strengthen holistic defence. However, challenges include standardising training, securing information exchange, and ensuring flexible service models that respect civilian commitments and national sovereignty. By addressing these, a military can calibrate cyber reserves to bolster defences and accelerate digital transformation, creating a full-spectrum, multi-domain force capable of countering 21st-century hybrid threats in both digital and physical spaces.