No chain-of-custody standard exists for battlefield video, so any footage can be claimed as deepfake

Battlefield footage captured on GoPros, phone cameras, and drone feeds has no cryptographic chain of custody from capture to storage. When this footage surfaces as evidence of war crimes or rules-of-engagement violations, the accused party can plausibly claim the video is AI-generated because there is no tamper-proof provenance trail. The C2PA content authentication standard exists but requires camera hardware support that no military helmet cam or field phone implements. This persists because content authentication was developed for the media industry, military procurement cycles are 5-7 years behind commercial tech, and no NATO standard mandates authenticated media capture for battlefield documentation.