The Navy's new drone being tested near Chesapeake Bay stretches the
boundaries of technology: It's designed to land on the deck of an
aircraft carrier, one of aviation's most difficult maneuvers.
What's even more remarkable is that it will do that not just without a pilot in the cockpit, but without a pilot at all.
The X-47B marks a paradigm shift in warfare, one that is likely to
have far-reaching consequences. With the drone's ability to be flown
autonomously by onboard computers, it could usher in an era when death
and destruction can be dealt by machines operating semi-independently.
Although humans would program an autonomous drone's flight plan and
could override its decisions, the prospect of heavily armed aircraft
screaming through the skies without direct human control is unnerving to
many.
"Lethal actions should have a clear chain of accountability," said
Noel Sharkey, a computer scientist and robotics expert. "This is
difficult with a robot weapon. The robot cannot be held accountable. So
is it the commander who used it? The politician who authorized it? The
military's acquisition process? The manufacturer, for faulty equipment?"
Sharkey and others believe that autonomous armed robots should force
the kind of dialogue that followed the introduction of mustard gas in
World War I and the development of atomic weapons in World War II. The
International Committee of the Red Cross, the group tasked by the Geneva
Conventions to protect victims in armed conflict, is already examining
the issue.
"The deployment of such systems would reflect ... a major qualitative
change in the conduct of hostilities," committee President Jakob
Kellenberger said at a recent conference. "The capacity to discriminate,
as required by (international humanitarian law), will depend entirely
on the quality and variety of sensors and programming employed within
the system."
Weapons specialists in the military and Congress acknowledge that
policymakers must deal with these ethical questions long before these
lethal autonomous drones go into active service, which may be a decade
or more away.
Rep. Henry Cuellar, D-Texas, said policy probably will first be
discussed with the bipartisan drone caucus that he co-chairs with Rep.
Howard P. "Buck" McKeon, R-Calif. Officially known as the Congressional
Unmanned Systems Caucus, the panel was formed in 2009 to inform members
of Congress on the far-reaching applications of drone technology.
"It's a different world from just a few years ago -- we've entered
the realm of science fiction in a lot of ways," Cuellar said. "New rules
have to be developed as new technology comes about, and this is a big
step forward."
Aerial drones now piloted remotely have become a central weapon for
the CIA and U.S. military in their campaign against terrorists in the
Middle East. The Pentagon has gone from an inventory of a handful of
drones before Sept. 11, 2001, to about 7,500 drones, about one-third of
all military aircraft.
Despite looming military spending cuts, expenditures on drones are
expected to take less of a hit, if any, because they are cheaper to
build and operate than piloted aircraft.
All military services are moving toward greater automation with their
robotic systems. Robotic armed submarines could one day stalk enemy
waters, and automated tanks could engage soldiers on the battlefield.
"More aggressive robotry development could lead to deploying far
fewer U.S. military personnel to other countries, achieving greater
national security at a much lower cost and most importantly, greatly
reduced casualties," aerospace pioneer Simon Ramo, who helped develop
the intercontinental ballistic missile, wrote in his new book, "Let
Robots Do the Dying."
The Air Force wrote in an 82-page report that outlines the future
usage of drones, titled "Unmanned Aircraft Systems Flight Plan
2009-2047," that autonomous drone aircraft are key "to increasing
effects while potentially reducing cost, forward footprint and risk."
Much like a chess master can outperform proficient chess players, future
drones will be able to react faster than human pilots ever could, the
report said.
And with that potential comes new concerns about how much control of
the battlefield the U.S. is willing to turn over to computers.
There is no plan by the U.S. military -- at least in the near term --
to turn over the killing of enemy combatants to the X-47B or any other
autonomous flying machine. But the Air Force said in the "Flight Plan"
that it's only a matter of time before drones have the capability to
make life-or-death decisions as they circle the battlefield. Even so,
the report notes officials will still monitor how these drones are used.
The X-47B is an experimental jet -- that's what the X stands for --
and is designed to demonstrate new technology, such as automated
takeoffs, landings and refueling. The drone also has a fully capable
weapons bay with a payload capacity of 4,500 pounds, but the Navy said
it has no plans to arm it.
The Navy is now testing two of the aircraft, which were built behind
razor-wire fences at Northrop Grumman Corp.'s expansive complex in
Palmdale, Calif., where the company manufactured the B-2 stealth bomber.
Funded under a $635.8 million contract awarded by the Navy in 2007,
the X-47B Unmanned Combat Air System Carrier Demonstration program has
grown in cost to an estimated $813 million.
Last February, the first X-47B had its maiden flight from Edwards Air
Force Base, where it continued testing until last month when it was
carried from the Mojave Desert to Naval Air Station Patuxent River in
southern Maryland. It is there that the next stage of the demonstration
program begins.
The drone is slated to first land on a carrier by 2013, relying on
GPS coordinates and advanced avionics. The carrier's computers digitally
transmit the carrier's speed, cross-winds and other data to the drone
as it approaches from miles away.
(c)2012 the Los Angeles Times
Visit the Los Angeles Times at www.latimes.com
Distributed by MCT Information Services
* Notícia publicada a The Standard Examiner. L'avenç dels drones en l'aviació naval serà, sens dubte, una de les revolucions del nou segle.
Cap comentari:
Publica un comentari a l'entrada