Joint force robotics

Military robots are becoming more familiar to a wider public, with news broadcasts showing bomb-disposal robots and, especially recently, flying drones used for surveillance and bombing in Afghanistan.

Unmanned ground vehicles have been used by some defences forces for many years and the United States is a leader in the field with a number of Department of Defence advanced development projects controlled by a joint forces robotics programme for developing technologies.

The American Congress in 2001 determined that a third of military ground vehicles must be unmanned by 2015, for example; it was recently reported that the US Air Force is training more drone operators than fighter and bomber pilots.

Machines have been or are being developed for unmanned mine detection and destruction, firefighting, urban warfare, weapons employment and operations in areas where chemical and biological weapons are suspected.

Robotic machines have been used as recently as in Bosnia, Kosovo, Kuwait, Iraq and Afghanistan, where the US armed forces have more than 4000 deployed.

An article in New Scientist magazine earlier this year described how some engineers were thinking about machines such as robot attack aircraft which could make their own decisions about wielding lethal force, might even be programmed to act ethically and obey the rules of engagement.

Software developments have military thinkers contemplating a future where autonomous robot fighting machines are "inevitable".

One US Joint Forces Command study is focusing on the concept of developing and employing robots that would be capable of replacing humans to perform many, if not most, combat functions on the battlefield.

It suggests that by as early as 2025, the presence of autonomous robots on the battlefield might not be the exception, but the norm.

As described at a seminar in July, the characteristics of so-called tactical autonomous combatants would include the ability to work in ground, air, space, or undersea environments, and in harsh conditions, and in chemically, biologically, or radiologically contaminated environments.

Humans would still have to interact with the machines and help guide them.

Politically, the idea of military robots is extremely attractive since they will likely be more capable than humans, will have more lethal capabilities, be more mobile and more survivable, have faster reaction times and greater sensing capabilities and will be cheaper.

Furthermore, robots are fearless and will remove the need for human military forces to be placed in danger.

Billions of dollars are now being spent to develop them.

It is against this background that New Zealand's Minister of Defence, Wayne Mapp, has suggested the use of unmanned aerial vehicles, mostly used for reconnaissance and missile strikes, as elements of fisheries surveillance in the Southern Ocean and possible observation of developments in the Pacific Islands.

They may even be able to be deployed for search missions for lost vessels.

The idea is attractive to the air force, which has never recovered from its downgrading to transport and surveillance functions after the Clark government cancelled its combat wing.

Robot drones could with considerable economy monitor our vast exclusive economic zone and the Defence Force is reportedly assessing them with possible purchase in mind.

Dr Mapp believes the use of drones may form part of the Defence White Paper on the future needs and functions of our armed services, at present being prepared.

There seems no reason why they should not be; indeed, why military robots cannot be seriously considered for uses across the army, navy and air force.

The efforts by the Australian Government, which is using drones in Afghanistan and plans to have at least one for maritime surveillance by next year, will likely influence their inclusion in the New Zealand White Paper.

It would seem particularly appropriate for the planned joint Anzac contingent, which will at least initially likely be required for peacekeeping and disaster recovery and operate only in the South Pacific, to be equipped with drones for interdiction surveillance and to assist humanitarian search and rescue events.

As Dr Mapp said in a recent speech: "The basic test for a defence force as small as New Zealand's is that it should essentially consist of those capabilities that are likely to be used, whether for peacekeeping or for combat, rather than capabilities that are unlikely to be used except in the most extreme cases."

 

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