Robots Go to War
Within 10 years, infantry soldiers will go into battle with autonomous robots close behind them. One day, they'll be fighting side-by-side
By Preston Lerner
Steps to Lethality
We could be at the dawn of a golden age of military UGVs. According to the 2001 Defense Authorization Act, one third of all operational ground vehicles are supposed to be unmanned by 2015. Therefore, the Department of Defense's ambitious Future Combat Systems (FCS) program calls for the development of three semiautonomous UGVs that can perform certain tasks entirely on their own, and others—firing weapons is the biggie—only while being operated by a soldier. The runt of this FCS litter is the Small Unmanned Ground Vehicle. Weighing less than 30 pounds, it will be carried in a backpack and used like a disposable scout. It's designed for high-risk missions in urban environments, such as searching through sewers and dealing with toxic chemicals. Bigger jobs are left to the Multifunctional Utility/Logistics and Equipment vehicle, which will travel with infantry units carrying supplies. The third FCS robot, the five-ton Armed Robotic Vehicle, will pack a machine gun, an automatic cannon and beyond-line-of-sight missiles—all remotely operated. In short, a bristling 'bot with a nasty bite.
But the three FCS vehicles are just the tip of the military's robotic iceberg. UGVs are uniquely suited to hauling giant loads of cargo in drone convoys. Ladar gives them a leg up on manned vehicles when operating at night and in rough terrain. Others are being designed to function as battlefield ambulances, to patrol supply depots, set up mobile communications links, and who knows, maybe even serve freshly frothed cappuccino with reveille. But will they ever actually kill on their own? Right now, the party line is that there will always be a human in the loop before lethal action is taken—that a robot will never decide on its own to fire a gun or cannon, or light a missile.
But some observers sense that robots' lack of emotions will eventually be taken advantage of."Part of the process of creating soldiers is disinhibiting people from killing," says John Pike, director of GlobalSecurity.org, a military-policy think tank."Robots have no such inhibition. They will kill without pity."
