The Decline of the Military Ethos and Profession of Arms: An Argument Against Autonomous Lethal Engagements

Abstract

Throughout history many new weapon technologies have been introduced into combat prior to a full evaluation or understanding of the doctrinal, legal, and ethical implications of their use. Similarly, today's battlespace is witnessing the introduction of numerous robotic systems to conduct many military missions. Thus far these robots still operate with humans directly "in the loop" of the decision process, especially when that loop is part of an offensive kill chain. The future battlespace, if we allow it, will be quite different. While the exact year is still in doubt, the capability for robotic autonomous lethal engagements (ALEs) will eventually exist. What are the key military ethical issues of totally removing the human from the loop of offensive kill chains? ALE is the application of lethal force by a robotic or computer system that relies solely upon its own internal programming and capabilities to conduct and execute all elements of the kill chain. A very futuristic ALE scenario is introduced here. The year is 20XX and as tensions between BadGuyLand and the United States are on the rise, a U.S. remotely piloted aircraft (RPA) conducts a covert operation over a military installation that is home to 10,000 ground combat troops of the potential enemy. Over the base the RPA releases 2,000 lethal nanorobots that bury themselves in the dirt and go into a dormant mode. U.S. intelligence services have gained access to the genetic database of the enemy's soldiers and the nanorobots are programmed with this information, which allows them to take a quick DNA sample and validate it before taking lethal action. Six months later, the United States formally declares war on BadGuyLand and, as the enemy ground troops mobilize for deployment, activates 1,000 of the nanorobots, which complete their mission and kill 1,000 soldiers. The United States promises more of the same within the next hour, which causes BadGuyLand to sue for peace.

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Document Details

Document Type
Technical Report
Publication Date
Oct 01, 2012
Accession Number
ADA570478

Entities

People

  • Michael R. Contratto

Organizations

  • Air War College

Tags

Communities of Interest

  • Autonomy
  • Biomedical
  • Human Systems
  • Weapons Technologies

DTIC Thesaurus Topics

  • Air Force
  • Aircrafts
  • Autonomous Agents
  • Autonomous Weapons
  • Crime
  • Cruise Missiles
  • Doctrine
  • Military Science
  • Personality
  • Societies
  • Test And Evaluation
  • United States
  • Unmanned Aerial Systems
  • Unmanned Aerial Vehicles
  • Unmanned Systems
  • War Colleges
  • Warfare

Readers

  • Irregular Warfare and Special Operations Cyberspace Operations against Adversarial Threats.
  • Military History of the United States in the 20th Century.
  • Unmanned Aerial System (UAS) Autonomous Capabilities and Mission Reconnaissance.

Technology Areas

  • AI & ML
  • AI & ML - DoD AI Strategy
  • Autonomy
  • Autonomy - UAVs
  • Biotechnology