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Robotic Warfare Helps Save Lives of Soldiers, Says Expert
ABU DHABI - Robotics technology is changing the way wars are waged in the 21st century in an attempt to save the lives of soldiers, a defence expert said.
- PUBLISHED: Sat 11 Apr 2009, 1:28 AM UPDATED: Wed 21 Aug 2024, 10:52 AM
An amazing revolution is taking place on the battlefield, which is starting to change not just how wars are fought, but also the politics, economics, laws and ethics that surround war itself,” Dr Peter W. Singer, Senior Fellow and Director of the 21st Century Defence Initiative at the Brookings Institution, said in a lecture at the Emirates Centre of Strategic Studies and Research (ECSSR), attended by Shaikha Lubna Al Qasimi, Minister of Foreign Trade.
Robots have been helping armies since the war in Iraq in 2003, said Dr Singer.
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He added that the upheaval is already afoot - remote-controlled drones take out terrorists in Afghanistan, while the number of unmanned systems on the ground in Iraq has gone from zero to 12,000 over the last five years.
According to him, this is only the start of things to come.
Military officers quietly acknowledge that new prototypes will soon make human fighter pilots obsolete, while the Pentagon is researching the use of tiny robots by the size of flies to carry out reconnaissance work now handled by elite Special Forces troops.
He said that the US military was trying to manufacture robots that can be used to help the soldiers discover roadside bombs and explosives.
Dr Singer explained that the US had two million robots used for civilian purposes. He expected that the number might increase globally - in addition to the US - to reach to 50 million by 2010. Dr Singer drew from historical precedent and the latest Pentagon research to argue that wars will become easier to start, that the traditional moral and psychological barriers to killing will fall, and that the 'warrior ethos' (the code of honour and loyalty which unites soldiers) will erode.
ahmed@khaleejtimes.com