Lethal Autonomous Weapons & Combat Drones Watch Thread

When will killer robots become a dominant force in world militaries?

2025
1
8%
2030
5
38%
2035
4
31%
2040
1
8%
2045
2
15%
 
Total votes: 13

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Yuli Ban
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Re: Lethal Autonomous Weapons Watch Thread

Post by Yuli Ban »

Oh it's really kicking off now
A RUSSIAN “SUICIDE drone” that boasts the ability to identify targets using artificial intelligence has been spotted in images of the ongoing invasion of Ukraine.

Photographs showing what appears to be the KUB-BLA, a type of lethal drone known as a “loitering munition” sold by ZALA Aero, a subsidiary of the Russian arms company Kalashnikov, have appeared on Telegram and Twitter in recent days. The pictures show damaged drones that appear to have either crashed or been shot down.

With a wingspan of 1.2 meters, the sleek white drone resembles a small pilotless fighter jet. It is fired from a portable launch, can travel up to 130 kilometers per hour for 30 minutes, and deliberately crashes into a target, detonating a 3-kilo explosive.

ZALA Aero, which first demoed the KUB-BLA at a Russian air show in 2019, claims in promotional material that it features “intelligent detection and recognition of objects by class and type in real time.”
And remember my friend, future events such as these will affect you in the future
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caltrek
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'Killer Robots' Are Already Here. They Just Don't Look Like You Think
by Toby Walsh
October 17, 2022

Extract:
(Science Alert) Movies that feature much simpler armed drones, like Angel has Fallen (2019) and Eye in the Sky (2015), paint perhaps the most accurate picture of the real future of killer robots.

On the nightly TV news, we see how modern warfare is being transformed by ever-more autonomous drones, tanks, ships, and submarines. These robots are only a little more sophisticated than those you can buy in your local hobby store.

And increasingly, the decisions to identify, track, and destroy targets are being handed over to their algorithms.

This is taking the world to a dangerous place, with a host of moral, legal, and technical problems. Such weapons will, for example, further upset our troubled geopolitical situation. We already see Turkey emerging as a major drone power.

And such weapons cross a moral red line into a terrible and terrifying world where unaccountable machines decide who lives and who dies.
Read more here: https://www.sciencealert.com/killer-ro ... you-think
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Yuli Ban
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Re: Lethal Autonomous Weapons & Combat Drones Watch Thread

Post by Yuli Ban »

They are precise, small in size, able to effectively penetrate air defenses when fired in groups.

Above all, they’re cheap.

In Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, killer drones have cemented their reputation as a potent, cost-effective weapon that can seek out and destroy targets while simultaneously spreading the kind of terror that can fray the resolve of soldiers and civilians alike.

They’re also quickly surpassing missiles as the remote weapon of choice. Known as “the poor man's cruise missile,” the flying death machines can flood any combat theater much more cheaply.
And remember my friend, future events such as these will affect you in the future
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Yuli Ban
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Re: Lethal Autonomous Weapons & Combat Drones Watch Thread

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And remember my friend, future events such as these will affect you in the future
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caltrek
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Re: Lethal Autonomous Weapons & Combat Drones Watch Thread

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Netherlands Becomes First NATO Country To Deploy Killer Robots
by Jack Dunhill
October 20, 2022

Introduction:
(IFL Science) The Netherlands has become the first NATO country to deploy armed uncrewed ground vehicles (UGVs) into an operational environment in which the tracked robots will join a military unit and become part of the defense force. Some are unarmed, while others are carrying large automatic machine guns for use in firefights.

“We have deployed four weaponised [unmanned] machines within an operational experiment,” Lt Col Mevissen, commander of the Royal Netherlands Army's Robotics and Autonomous Systems (RAS) unit, told Dutch media outlet Janes. “To my knowledge, we have not seen this before in the West”.

“The machines have been handed over for experimental use in an operational unit in a military-relevant environment. These are not simply tests on a training ground. We are under the direct eyes and ears of the Russians, and as such in a semi-operational environment,” he continued.

The UGVs will be Tracked Hybrid Modular Infantry Systems (THeMIS), which were created by an Estonian defense company. When armed, the THeMIS can be armed with either 30mm autocannons, 40mm grenade launches, light or heavy machine guns, or anti-tank missiles. It remains to be seen how THeMIS will perform, as UGVs do not have a great history so far – Russia deployed their version in Syria in 2018, where it was remarkably ineffective due to constant disconnections with the controller.
Read more here: https://www.iflscience.com/netherlands ... ots-65859

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weatheriscool
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Re: Lethal Autonomous Weapons & Combat Drones Watch Thread

Post by weatheriscool »

I think it is wonderful. If we humans could settle our differences just by seeing who's bots could defeat the others within a area that no one lives we'd be better off.
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Re: Lethal Autonomous Weapons & Combat Drones Watch Thread

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U.S. begins flying drones out of Kagoshima MSDF base
Source: Asahi Shimbun

KANOYA, Kagoshima Prefecture--Deploying eyes to the sky over troubled waters, the U.S. Air Force began launching its MQ-9 Reaper drones from the Maritime Self-Defense Force’s Kanoya Air Base here on Nov. 21.

The unmanned aircraft will be used for surveillance and reconnaissance duties in the East China Sea and other surrounding waters until November next year. An estimated 150 to 200 U.S. military personnel will be stationed in Kanoya to provide operational support.

According to the U.S. military and the Defense Ministry, eight MQ-9 Reapers are deployed at the base. The drones, measuring 11 meters long and 20 meters wide, are equipped with high-performance sensors that can detect the movement of ships at night and in bad weather.

The aim is to strengthen intelligence-gathering capabilities under the Japan-U.S. alliance, with China and Russia and other nations in mind.
Read more: https://www.asahi.com/ajw/articles/14774606
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caltrek
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Seventy States Join Cross-Regional Joint Statement on Autonomous Weapons at UN General Assembly


Entire Article:
(Automated Decision Research) On the 21st October 2022, the first-ever UN General Assembly joint statement on autonomous weapons was delivered on behalf of a cross-regional group of seventy states by Amb. Alexander Kmentt, Director of the Disarmament, Arms Control and Nonproliferation Department at the Austrian Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

The joint statement recognises the need for ‘internationally agreed rules and limits’ on autonomous weapons systems, and notes that ‘the human element is and must remain central in the use of force’. The statement also emphasises ‘the necessity for human beings to exert appropriate control, judgement and involvement in relation to the use of weapons systems in order to ensure any use is in compliance with International Law, in particular International Humanitarian Law, and that humans remain accountable for decisions on the use of force’.

Stop Killer Robots’ response to the joint statement, and the joint statement in full with the list of signatories, can be read here.

The majority of states involved in UN-level discussions on autonomous weapons systems support the negotiation of new legally binding rules on autonomous weapons.
Source: https://automatedresearch.org/news/sev ... assembly/
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