"No Disassemble!"

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As an aviation enthusiast I have been aware of the development of the increasing autonomy of military technology for a number of years. In the apparent pursuit of making life easier for pilots by decreasing their workload has morphed into a sinister beast however and we are at the point where a number of seemingly disparate technological military advances could converge and make sci-fi like future conflicts a reality.

What follows is a run-down of the areas I find a concern.

UAV/UAS

UAV (Unmanned Aerial Vehicle)/Unmanned Aircraft Systems technology is a relatively new direction, where the pilots fly the aircraft as though are on board (following all rules of the air) themselves but are actually in front of a screen flying the aircraft remotely. Initially UAV’s were envisaged as a means of assisting the air power forces by providing “spy” roles such as finding targets and relaying the info to the correct arm of the air power wing and then providing imagery of the aftermath of any strike operations. The most developed UAV is the RQ-1 Predator, initially designed for reconnaissance purposes. In the winter 2000-2001 (post 9/11) tests were conducted with the view of arming Predators with Hellfire missiles (a lightweight but highly effective and accurate missile as used on AH64 Apachehelicopters), these tests culminated in the successful test attack on a stationary tank with 3 missiles. The head of the CIA at the time after seeing how successfully the Predators reconnaissance of Afghanistan was vocal in his support of the arming programme and had the updates accelerated so as to target Osama Bin Laden.  The armed version was re-designated MQ-1 and software and technological upgrades are frequently applied. They have launched hundreds of attacks during Operation Iraqi Freedom and Enduring Freedom with some moderate success; however a large number have been destroyed for varying reasons. The Bae System Taranisis the latest development in UAV, it even looks nasty!

UGV

Unmanned Ground Vehicles are the land based equivalent of the above. To date other than remotely controlled bomb disposal robots or those designed to minimise risks to troops none are in operational service. However the race is on and gluts of projects are vying for attention from the world’s military organisations. The US is leading the way with the larger projects, whodathunkit?  The most impressive being the CRUSHER, GLADIATOR, TALON, APDand the very sinister yet captivating BIG DOG(and in fact anything from Boston Dynamics.

RCWS

RCWS (Remote Controlled Weapons Systems) are a line up of stationary gun turrets which, during their initial phase are controlled by a human far away on a computer screen.  The Israeli defence company Rafael Advanced Defence Systems are currently installing their design, the Sentry-Techalong the Gaza Strip.

If you good reader, have clicked on any of the links within this column you may have spotted a word which you may think I should have mentioned. It’s the binding thing that all of the advances mentioned strive to achieve and the thing that strikes fear into me...

... AUTONOMOUS! That’s right, well done. Tell them what they could have won Bob!

 Lockheed Martin conducted a programme in 2008 in which a manned F-16 VISTAaircraft performed an autonomous landing (the most important and until now “human” part of a flight). This is the reason the Predator has a control room. The worlds speeding clamour to obtain military dominance through the use of autonomous robots until very recently has been consigned to Sci-Fi movies such as Terminator and Short Circuit. Well. It’s here folks. Where it will lead us who knows? But the fact that it is here suggests a complete degradation of ethical responsibility. The autonomous systems for UAV’s are only a small step from the “manpower saving” technologies that exist in modern military aviation today. The autonomous systems for UGV’s is slightly more disturbing, the “unit” has to live and roam around it’s theatre so as to develop a knowledge of the environment it is in so it can operate accordingly. Both air and land units will actually designate their own targets also. Considering we can’t manage to get that right now though I can’t imagine how catastrophic the results of that particular avenue of advancement will be.

We are entering a time where all whims are catered for at the touch of a button without a thought. We don’t question anything anymore because we just don’t care. Just as long as we are entertained by mind numbing arseholes on our screens and fame seeking corporate whore plebs in our newspapers. If anything this economic mess our masters have placed us in should sharpen our resolve and re-ignite our distrust of those who wish to rule. The stakes are higher now than they were during the cold war ten-fold. More countries have more nuclear capabilities for a start.

The human ethical element of warfare has always brought about situations whereby a catastrophic escalation could be avoided; just ask the lovelorn troubadour that is James Blunt.

With autonomous military equipment that ability to judge what’s best will be lost. What else will be lost? Guilt? Responsibility? Culpability? Damn right. We have that now with Predator pilots who just see targets as a blip or a bunch of congregated pixels in human form on a screen. Along with a joystick or in the event of the use of games console controllers on UGV’s the screen in front of them appears to be nothing more than a computer game with top notch graphics!

And what about our eyes? Opened more and more vivid depictions of violence day to day on TV or in film and computer games, our eyes lie to our subconscious all the time. We are becoming numbed to the actual reality of man’s inhumanity to man. Is this part of our master’s plan?

Who knows good reader? Do you?

PS. I’m not even touching the militarisation of space. Why? Because I’ve tried and the information out there is scant at the very least and spuriously loose at best. When the info is there I’ll update, but you can imagine the implications of autonomous space militarisation.

Related articles

• Rise of the robots and the future of war(guardian.co.uk)
• China's Drones Raise Eyebrows(online.wsj.com)
• China's Drones Raises Eyebrows at Air Show(online.wsj.com)
• Army Brings New UAV to Iraq(waronterrornews.typepad.com)
• WikiLeaks: The must-have weapons and the countries that want them(cnn.com)
• Robot warfare: campaigners call for tighter controls of deadly drones(guardian.co.uk)
• Phantom Ray UAV completes low-speed taxi tests(gizmag.com)
• MQ-9 Reaper is the Badass of Military Drones (video)(singularityhub.com)
• China Demonstrates 25+ Unmanned Aerial Vehicles(tech.slashdot.org)
• UAV's displayed at Zhuhai air show - Wendell Minnick(chinaherald.net)