BAE Systems unveils its Taranis unmanned stealth aircraft prototype. Photograph: BAE SystemsRise Of The Robots And The Future Of War -- The Guardian
With the RAF and the Pentagon pouring huge sums into robotics, Jon Cartwright asks how this could change warfare and what ethical and legal challenges will follow.
Faced with an enemy fighter jet, there's one sensible thing a military drone should do: split. But in December 2002, caught in the crosshairs of an Iraqi MiG, an unmanned US Predator was instructed to stay put. The MiG fired, the Predator fired back and the result, unhappily for the US, was a heap of drone parts on the southern Iraqi desert.
This incident is often regarded as the first dogfight between a drone, properly known as an unmanned aerial vehicle or UAV, and a conventional, manned fighter. Yet in a way, the Predator hardly stood a chance. American and British UAVs are operated remotely by pilots sitting thousands of miles away on US turf, so manoeuvres are hobbled by signal delays of a quarter-second or more. This means evading missiles will always be nigh-on impossible – unless the UAVs pilot themselves.
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Update: Future of war rests with robot Rambos -- ABC News (Australia)
My Comment: UAVs in the air, army bots on the ground, and now the U.S. Navy has its own program .... yup .... the future (appears) to be in robotic platforms.
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