A panel discussion on how robotics and autonomous systems could aid small units included a warning from a top Army expert that the “biggest danger facing the nation is someone else’s robots on the battlefield.”
Artificial intelligence and autonomous systems “are no longer science fiction,” said Gen. John M. Murray, the U.S. Army Futures Command commanding general and the soldier charged with building vast new capabilities for future battles.
Advances in robotics and autonomous systems hold the promise of giving the U.S. Army capabilities advantages over near-peer competitors in a close-combat fight, says a new research paper published by the Association of the U.S. Army’s Institute of Land Warfare.
The Army has been shifting more research and technology funding to autonomous and semi-autonomous vehicles because future battles could be won by the side with the best robotics, Army Secretary Mark T. Esper said.
Artificial intelligence and robotics have “the potential to fundamentally change the character of warfare,” Esper said earlier this month at the Aspen Security Forum in Colorado. “We want to get there first, and I tell you we will get there first.”
While some futurists and technology executives are predicting a blanket shift to fully autonomous civilian vehicles over the next two
Some believe lethal, autonomous weapons may prove to be the third revolution in warfare.
The Army is working internally and with industry to greatly expand warfighting capabilities, with one planned option to have every vehicle operate either under the control of a soldier or autonomously, Chief of Staff Gen. Mark A. Milley says.
“Every vehicle needs to have the capability to be robotic,” Milley said at a Jan. 17 breakfast hosted by the Association of the U.S. Army’s Institute of Land Warfare. Having alternative fuel options, better protection options and lighter weight are also priorities, he said. A lighter vehicle has better strategic and tactical mobility.
