Controlling the Menace of High-tech Weapons: A New Direction for Arms Control

Abstract

Abstract This paper describes the risks posed by the advent of software-based weaponry (SBW) and the novel challenges it raises for existing arms control architectures. It highlights the fundamental mismatch between the dynamic, persistent character of SBW advancement and the static, intermittent nature of prevailing arms control practices, and argues that a new arms control model is needed in order to keep pace with the rapidly evolving SBW threat. It introduces a preliminary sketch of a modernized arms control approach that better accounts for the realities of contemporary arms development. Keywords: arms control, arms race, high-tech weapons, emerging technologies