V/R
Dave
Robot Wars: The Brave New World
December 17, 2012 6:57 AM
In future wars, will human soldiers be replaced by weapons that think for themselves? Lots of remote control systems are already on the battlefield. Chas Henry, All News 99.1′s national security correspondent, met with warfighters, scientists, critical analysts and the nation’s top military officer to explore the world of …ROBOT WARS.
WASHINGTON – When we humans go to war, our least favorite way is hand-to-hand, face-to-face.
“It speaks to human nature,” says MIT Professor Missy Cummings, a former Navy fighter pilot. “We don’t really like to kill, and if we are going to kill, we like to do it from far away.”
Over centuries, that’s led to creation of weapons that allow us to separate ourselves from our adversaries — first by yards, then miles. Now, technology allows attacks half a world away.
Until a decade ago, most of the remote engagement capability was owned by the U.S. or Israel. Not anymore.
Unmanned platforms –- in the air, on the ground, and on or under the water — are becoming less and less expensive. So are the sensors that help guide them. And nanotechnology is making them smaller.
Today, U.S. soldiers in Afghanistan launch throw-bots into the air by hand, and mini-helicopters deliver frontline supplies by remote control. Adding artificial intelligence to the mix, we’re now seeing some platforms operating without even remote human control. An unmanned aircraft flown by an internal computer recently refueled another unmanned plane – in the air – as it, too, flew completely on its own.
These tools of remote engagement (the people operating them don’t like to call them ‘drones’) are already changing modern battlefields. And some people worry we may not be giving enough thought to how much they’re going to change things.
Simon Ramo has been thinking about this for a long time. At 99 years old, he knows something about national security. Remember the defense firm TRW? He’s the ‘R.’
(Continued at the link below)
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