Unmanned robots have already got proven their worth at the battlefield, neutralizing improvised explosive devices, and more capable ones are coming someday, consistent with the commander of U.S. Army Training and Doctrine Command.
While robots and unmanned platforms will continue to offer valuable assistance to Soldiers at the battlefield, there will even come an afternoon once they can begin replacing Soldiers, Gen. Robert W. Cone told reporters at Association of the us Army’s Aviation Symposium, held earlier this month.
Cone’s remarks sparked further discussion at a Jan. 22 media roundtable, co-hosted by the varsity of William & Mary and U.S. Army Training and Doctrine Command, often known as TRADOC, hung on the campus of W&M.
Discussions thinking about various other issues in addition that came out of this month’s Strategic Trends Seminar, which checked out challenges and opportunities test the force inside the coming years and decades.
The Army already has teamed Apache helicopters and unmanned aircraft in Afghanistan so “there’s a possible to enhance that capability and every now and then and under specific circumstances to exchange manpower,” said Maj. Gen. Bill Hix, deputy director, Army Capabilities Integration Center.
Dismounted ground robots are already assisting Soldiers, much within the way a bird dog provides extra eyes and ears and a keen sense of smell for a hunter, Hix said, borrowing an analogy.
“That’s an additive capability that makes a Soldier that rather more effective as the robot may carry additional munitions or logistics or even sensors that permit him to focus more on mission tasks and never sort out what’s often referred to as dirty, dumb, dangerous and repetitive tasks,” he said.
There might also be convoys which are principally unmanned sooner or later, he continued, with some oversight by Soldiers. Convoys in Iraq, Afghanistan and Pakistan were often the objective of attacks by insurgents using improvised explosive devices and small-arms fire.
The integration of robotics into all the capabilities the military brings to the table was the point of interest of Soldiers, scientists and academia on the Strategic Trends Seminar, said Col. Chris Cross, chief of Science and Technology, Army Capabilities Integration Center, or ARCIC.
“It’s hard to conceive that we’ll fight a fight in 2035 without the combination of a few form of unmanned combat platform,” he said, relating the thoughts of scientists and academia on the seminar.
Cross, who has a doctorate in nuclear physics, agreed with Hix regarding convoy duty for robots, adding that this capability should be added “fairly quickly” with tethered or untethered robots. Tethered robots are controlled by a wire and untethered is wireless controlled.
Besides performing physical tasks which are dumb and dirty, Cross expects that future robots would be in a position to assist Soldiers within the decision-making process.
The science and technology community is calling at a number of options to produce to Army leaders for future planning purposes, Cross added.
“We will fight against robotic platforms at some point which might be either autonomous or semi-autonomous,” he said. So it’s not only how robots would be integrated into the force, it’s also how the military will handle enemy robots.
When it involves the autonomous decision-making capability of robots, there has been an excellent discussion on the seminar concerning the levels of responsibility, said Col. Kevin Felix, chief, Future Warfare Division, ARCIC.
The technology is already here for robots, but there should be more discussion and consensus at the ethics of it, he said. That discussion must be done on the national level.
And, he added, adversaries “won’t necessarily play by an identical rules that we play by.”
Also, as more robotic systems are brought in, there are a number of different things to think of besides, like procurement and sustainment costs, he said.
Human enhancements — things that permit Soldiers to raise more and augment the senses — while not strictly robotic, also are at the horizon, Felix predicted, adding that this was discussed on the seminar.
INVESTING IN SCIENCE
Despite the budget squeeze, the military must continue to speculate in science, technology, research and development so it’s better prepared for the following war, Hix said.
That the Strategic Trends Seminar was hung on the campus of W&M with scientists and academia present was good for the military, he added, because they provide a special perspective.
It’s fortunate that TRADOC is found so near the W&M campus in Williamsburg, Va., added Dr. Jim Golden, vp, Strategic Initiatives, W&M.
There’s an enormous area of intersection between the research being done on the college and that being done by Army planners, Golden said. W&M can offer the military its analysis of topics like neuroscience, cultural and societal trends that may shape our surroundings 30 years out that the military will need to have in mind when planning, he said.
Hix said TRADOC is additionally partnering with the intelligence community to establish where opponents are investing their money in robotics, electro-magnetic and cyber warfare and other capabilities.
“It’s not inevitable that we’ll be over-matched by future adversaries,” he said, “But we don’t desire to face that prospect.”
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