Future security: autonomous swarms

Imagine this: swarms of autonomous and highly armed robots fighting for land and protecting our borders. Sounds scary? Well it is and scientists, armies and companies are working hard to realize this future vision of warfare. According to a report, “Robotics on the Battlefield Part II: The Coming Swarm” (2014), from the Center for a New American Security (CNAS) Swarms of highly intelligent militarized robots are predicted to hit the battlefield in the near future and could spark a modern day arms race.

When you talk about fighting robot swarms you have to think about teams of interconnected robots which work together in fighting a war. Cooperative bot which are able to conduct “suicidal missions” without the risk to living humans. The study predicts that this could be possible in the very near future. The study states: technology will allow “swarms of robotic systems” to effect “dramatic, disruptive change to military operations”. The usage of these new technologies in fighting wars has even become an arms race. In the U.S. they are even afraid that if they loose this innovation battle of using robots in wars they also loose their status as the world’s most preeminent military force.

The military is very innovative. And we see already that the United States and other major world powers are making great advances in unmanned technologies. Just think about drones. The predictions are that global militaries will soon enter a race to perfect the tactic known as “swarming,”. The advantages are that swarms of robots are able to bring greater mass, coordination, intelligence, and speed to battlefields. This enhances the ability of warfighters to gain a decisive advantage.

So there is a big need and want for these new technologies but we also see that there are severe budget costs in spending and innovation of the armed forces. Of cource it is sad that we have to spend so much money on creating destructive weapons. Of course I am not for the development of weapons but we see a trend where technology is moving very fast into our everyday lives. And we know for sure that when this happens there is one industry which is far ahead of society. This is the military industry. So think about what you see today in society which is linked to high tech. A lot of our activities are in one way or another connected with technologies which become increasingly smarter. This happens in a much more faster pace in the military industry.

A frightening development? Yes… unstoppable… we don’t know. But the ethics question rises again with this topic of robot swarms which are autonomous and able to kill humans.