Analysis of AI Patent Technology Trends in the Defense Industry : Focusing on Defense R&D Institutes and Defense-focused Companies

AI is a representative dual-use technology applicable to both civilian and military domains. Therefore, various approaches are required to clearly analyze AI trends and their military applicability. In this study, we classified defense R&D institutes and defense-focused companies that focus on defense R&D based on characteristics of the organization, and extracted their AI patents applied from 2015 to 2023. We used for patent co-classification analysis and the matrix diagram method. Results indicate a steady increase in AI patent applications in the defense field and active collaborating with universities. In addition, Using the Cooperative Patent Classification(CPC) data, we calculated the occurrence proportion of AI sub-technology, and the strength of association between AI sub-technology and military technologies. We also conducted time-series analysis to structure and visualize sub-technologies this data in the matrix diagram, this process revealed expansion of research activity in defense AI sub-technologies, their military applicability, and development trajectory. The results showed that research on defense AI sub-technologies is increasing and integration with military technology is expanding.