Normalising algorithmic warfare through visual practice: Russian demonstrations of uncrewed military vehicles during zapad 2021

International actors routinely demonstrate their military-technological capabilities through spectacular visual performances such as weapons tests, exercises and exhibitions. These public spectacles are internationally observed through the widespread circulation of images that visually represent the practice of demonstration in myriad ways. In this article, I conduct a case study of Russian demonstrations of uncrewed military vehicles during the Zapad 2021 military exercise, to illustrate that capability demonstrations do not merely have rational and linear effects on the strategic calculus of actors, but rather that they are a coherent set of international visual practices shaping how onlookers perceive war, violence and the tools of military force. I argue that the visual patterns and themes observable in the images of military demonstrations establish commonsensical perceptions of the necessity of using (algorithmically mediated) military force in the conduct of international politics, and the normality of employing ever-evolving, technologically advanced instruments of violence. Moreover, I contend that these perceptions are reinforced by the contexts in which the practices of production, circulation and consumption of the images take place. As such, this article develops a theoretical framework that allows for the systematic study of military capability demonstrations as an important visual site of international politics.