US Army prepares to send first robot soldier into battle

[Pathfinder-X]

ENGLEWOOD CLIFFS, N.J. - The rain is turning to snow on a blustery January morning, and all the men gathered in a parking lot here surely would prefer to be inside.

But the weather couldn’t matter less to the robotic sharpshooter they are here to watch as it splashes through puddles, the barrel of its machine gun pointing the way like Pinocchio’s nose.

The Army is preparing to send 18 of these remote-controlled robotic warriors to fight in Iraq beginning in March or April.

Made by a small Massachusetts company, the SWORDS, short for Special Weapons Observation Reconnaissance Detection Systems, will be the first armed robotic vehicles to see combat, years ahead of the larger Future Combat System vehicles currently under development by big defense contractors such as Lockheed Martin and General Dynamics Corp.

Link: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/6852832/

Could it be we are beginning to see a new age of warfare? These machines might still seem clumsy at the moment, but I got a gut feeling that this just might be what wars will look like in the future. Say, itsn't war suppose to be man vs man?

 

[Temoor_A]

Yes! it's an interesting development and it will be cheaper also. Though they will require close-by human operators to monitor them but these Machines will make it easy for humans to counter enemy in extreme situations and combat casualties will also be reduced !

 

[fraken_14]

yea I agree. The fact that it takes a bunch of money to train one person, not to meantion the time involved. This will reduce the cost and casualties of a war like Iraq.

 

[kashifshahzad]

I think the unmanned air craft into the war sounds good but a robot in the war . I think there will be a lot of factors to come under consideration.Like controlling withdrawing the robot form the war ground and the re enforcements of bullets etc

 

[gf0012-aust]

I think the unmanned air craft into the war sounds good but a robot in the war . I think there will be a lot of factors to come under consideration.Like controlling withdrawing the robot form the war ground and the re enforcements of bullets etc

1) A robot makes the ROE's a whole lot easier - they can be sent in irrespective of the complexity of the contested environment as no human casualties - why do you think precision weapons are popular?

2) The US is already trialling Robots using the Australian Metalstorm electronic weapons system. Its cyclic rate is a million rounds per minute with the small calibre weapon. Having seen a metalstorm gun turn a vehicle into a collander is a pretty impressive sight. You don't have to do much to suppress a target.

3) Reload is not a significant issue as:
a) an enemy will be committed to destroying the robot vehicle irrespective of whether it's loaded or is fully expended
b) if its expended then the follow up forces can reload as they move forward
c) the robot vehicle can be programmed to return to base once its ordnance is depleted

Any robots sent forward would be overlapped on fire support. This isn't like the old musket days where you either had a second line of support fire or you died from return volleys.

I'd be guessing that in the case of the US - who are the pre-eminent masters of logistics management (and have been ever since they changed the dynamics in 1861) will have the backdoor logistics tied up fairly tightly.

Robots are a politicians dream - no body bags, no bad press, and no in field hostility to long term deployment. The ideal "voter".

 

[Pathfinder-X]

Maybe it's just me, but I think one of the objectives of war is hurt mankind so we are not stupid enough to do it again. Going unmanned and taking the human elements out makes the whole war affair seems nothing more than a video game.

Besides that, I'm also uncomfortable with the idea of robot participating in combat. How does a machine deals with the issue of identifying friends and foes? Or preventing civilians casulties?

 

[gf0012-aust]

Besides that, I'm also uncomfortable with the idea of robot participating in combat. How does a machine deals with the issue of identifying friends and foes? Or preventing civilians casulties?

I guess thats an issue of approp strategic deployment. In a clearly defined battlefield (ie non urban or all civs evacuated) then its not an issue.

The evolving years will see them go into restricted contested areas. I think the "Terminator" style conflicts are a way off yet.