Military Warfare: Robots on the Battlefield

Robots on the Battlefield
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Robots on the Battlefield
Introduction
War in the 20th and 21st centuries has seen the proliferation of robots on the battlefield. According to Swett, Hahan, and Llorens (2021), the current application of AI robots on the battlefield is capable of autonomous action. It provides an array of capabilities, including an advantage over adversaries in precision, speed, surveillance, staging attacks, and situational awareness. The robots essentially minimize the loss of human life (on the part of those who own the capabilities) while increasing the effectiveness of military action. However, while many people see this development as a significant advancement in warfare, their development is not necessarily the most significant advancement in military warfare to the extent that humans are no longer the advanced fighting force they used to be.
Recent Applications of Robots on the Battlefield
Before the invasion of Iraq and Afghanistan, there were reports that US forces were already deploying robots on missions like ordinance disposal and search & rescue (Lele, 2005). However, the developments in the Iraq and Afghanistan wars, especially these losses of lives of American soldiers, prompted us to move faster in developing land robots. This robotic warrior, christened SWORD, was expected to be accurate, fast, and capable of tracking and attacking the enemy while minimizing losses on the American side. Singer (2009) writes that the initial deployment in Iraq did not involve robots. However, by the end of 2004, there were 150 ground robots in deployment, and by the end of 2005, there were 2,400. In 2008, over 12,000 robots of up to 24 different varieties. If anything, these figures indicate that throughout the war, American decision-makers were increasingly convinced that robots were practical or even transformational on the battlefield.
In Iraq and Afghanistan, robots were deployed to lift heavy things, military equipment, and resources or boulders in search and rescue missions. Some like drones were deployed to provide aerial surveillance or reconnaissance of routes in the streets and the movement of adversary troops and resources. In some instances, the robotic surveillance systems were used to seek out and eliminate individuals precisely. In 2021, for instance, years after the withdrawal from Iraq, al-Qaeda senior leader Abdul Hamid al-Matar was killed in a drone strike by American forces (France24, 2021). The precise nature of such robotics without exposing US personnel to any form of physical danger makes robotics a mainstay in warfare. Other roles of robotics include seeking out snipers, shielding personnel from the line of fire, and gathering and relaying intelligence through imagery and sound capabilities.
Robot Capabilities and Cost Bought From Commercial Sources
The Robotic Revolution Hypothesis borrows from the extensive use of robots on the battlefield. It holds that 1) robotization is inevitable and irreversible, and 2) robotization requires the development of an intellectual framework needed to master technological innovation (Danet &a...