Autonomous Weapons: The Future Behind Us

Abstract

Militaries have long used weapons with varying degrees of autonomy. However, recent technology advances have made possible more capable autonomous weapons, sparking calls by civil society groups and discussions in the United Nations (UN) on banning autonomous weapons. This thesis identifies potential military uses of autonomous weapons and makes prediction on their use through 2030. This is accomplished by analyzing past and present uses of autonomous weapons, ongoing technology developments, and developing an ontology for defining and describe autonomous weapons.

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Document Details

Document Type
Technical Report
Publication Date
Jun 14, 2019
Accession Number
AD1085435

Entities

People

  • Matthew F. Noyes

Organizations

  • United States Army Command and General Staff College

Tags

Communities of Interest

  • Autonomy
  • Ground and Sea Platforms
  • Space
  • Weapons Technologies

DTIC Thesaurus Topics

  • Aircrafts
  • Artificial Intelligence
  • Autonomous Navigation
  • Autonomous Systems
  • Autonomous Weapons
  • Cognitive Systems Engineering
  • Control Systems
  • Cyberspace Operations
  • Defense Industry
  • Detection
  • Guided Bombs
  • Intelligence Community (United States)
  • National Security
  • Precision-Guided Munitions
  • Unmanned Aerial Vehicles
  • Unmanned Systems
  • Weapons Effects

Fields of Study

  • Political science

Readers

  • Military Science and Technology Research and Modernization.
  • Strategic Security Studies
  • Systems Analysis and Design

Technology Areas

  • Autonomy