An explosive ordnance disposal technician prepares a remote-controlled robotic for a mission during Exercise Northern Coasts in Putlos, Germany, Sept. 13, 2019.

An explosive ordnance disposal technician prepares a remote-controlled robotic for a mission during Exercise Northern Coasts in Putlos, Germany, Sept. 13, 2019. Navy Chief Petty Officer Travis Simmons

In a Robot War, Kill the Humans

Even if advances in robotics mean fewer humans on the battlefield, the fight will increasingly focus on those that remain.

Last week’s lopsided showdown between a human F-16 pilot and an artificially intelligent one — the robot won 5-0 — was just the latest sign that we need to be thinking harder about the changes that smart machines are bringing to the battlefield. Among them: as relatively cheap robots play larger roles, the focus of warfare will shift to attacking and defending the humans that operate, maintain, and even build them.

Now and for the foreseeable future, military robots still need humans. Robots are not (yet) capable of the complex thinking required for warfare; advances in speed and computational power do not automatically bring basic common sense. A robot cannot tell the difference between a farmer with a gun and a soldier. 

So the military frequently focuses on the concept of human-machine teaming: the machine does what it does best, and the humans do the rest. 

In the short term, humans are needed to make decisions on the use of force. Autonomous systems can beat an F-16 jockey in a dogfight, but they cannot decide whether a target is worth striking. Current Department of Defense policy does not allow autonomous weapons to make decisions on the use of force without appropriate human judgement. 

However, the longer term is less clear. As single robots grow into massive swarms and become true weapons of mass destruction, humans will lack the cognitive capacity to manage the complexity without the aid of computers. Still, proponents of autonomous weapons bans may succeed in creating policies, laws, and treaties mandating that humans remain in control of firing decisions. 

Humans will also be needed to create, maintain, and manage the robot army. Human programmers write the algorithms and software that operate the robot. Tacticians, strategists, and policy-wonks need to formulate the best ways to test, employ, control, and manage them. When a robot returns from combat, human maintainers will inspect, repair, and otherwise maintain the robot. Any base or outpost where the robots are stationed will also need staff to sustain and operate it. 

All this means that killing the human operator and maintainers of robotic systems will often impose a much higher cost than disabling the robots. If the battlefield consists of fighting robots, the only cost is treasure. The destruction of a robot results in the loss of the time and money spent to build it. Robotic warfare seems to favor the small and many over the big and expensive, so the loss of a few robots may be quite low. 

It is much harder to recruit, train, and equip the humans that support them. According to a recent RAND study, American drone pilots are already understaffed and over-stressed. While greater levels of autonomy will reduce the need for and stress on human pilots, humans are still needed. Killing the human-half of a human-machine team would prevent the machine from being strategically effective or even firing at all (if current limitations continue). Eliminating the maintainers and other support staff would also cause harm across the robotic fleet. Even if robots are decisive on the battlefield, they cannot maintain themselves off the field. 

A robotic war also incentivizes attacking the people and facilities of the defense industrial base. Sabotage or destruction of a robotics factory or disrupting the factory’s supply chain would have much greater impact than destroying a few robots in the field. Of course, adversaries may launch non-violent information attacks, particularly against facilities in the American homeland. For example manipulating the algorithms that allow unmanned systems to see, fly, and make decisions would create problems in every robot that used those algorithms. 

The higher the seeming safety of soldiers, the higher the psychological impact of their death. A major advantage of unmanned systems is the reduced risk to soldiers. Remote pilots fly Predator drones from hundreds of miles away in a safe, and secure base. The sense of security is not only for the soldier, but for their mom and dad back in the United States. Violating that sense of security could create much broader effects on public support for a war effort. During the 1992-93 U.S. intervention in Somalia, images of American soldiers being dragged through the streets quickly turned public and policymaker opinion against the conflict. Dragging a robot through the streets of Mogadishu is unlikely to have the same effect. 

Perhaps the F-16’s loss to an AI was a fluke, but even if not, humans are not leaving war anytime soon. The United States and other militaries should focus on the vulnerabilities and value in targeting humans. Militaries should conduct war games and simulations to understand what roles are most critical to maintaining a robotic army. Analysis should also focus on how best to protect people in those roles. 

All views expressed here are the author’s own and do not necessarily reflect those of any current or former employers, funders, or affiliates.

X
This website uses cookies to enhance user experience and to analyze performance and traffic on our website. We also share information about your use of our site with our social media, advertising and analytics partners. Learn More / Do Not Sell My Personal Information
Accept Cookies
X
Cookie Preferences Cookie List

Do Not Sell My Personal Information

When you visit our website, we store cookies on your browser to collect information. The information collected might relate to you, your preferences or your device, and is mostly used to make the site work as you expect it to and to provide a more personalized web experience. However, you can choose not to allow certain types of cookies, which may impact your experience of the site and the services we are able to offer. Click on the different category headings to find out more and change our default settings according to your preference. You cannot opt-out of our First Party Strictly Necessary Cookies as they are deployed in order to ensure the proper functioning of our website (such as prompting the cookie banner and remembering your settings, to log into your account, to redirect you when you log out, etc.). For more information about the First and Third Party Cookies used please follow this link.

Allow All Cookies

Manage Consent Preferences

Strictly Necessary Cookies - Always Active

We do not allow you to opt-out of our certain cookies, as they are necessary to ensure the proper functioning of our website (such as prompting our cookie banner and remembering your privacy choices) and/or to monitor site performance. These cookies are not used in a way that constitutes a “sale” of your data under the CCPA. You can set your browser to block or alert you about these cookies, but some parts of the site will not work as intended if you do so. You can usually find these settings in the Options or Preferences menu of your browser. Visit www.allaboutcookies.org to learn more.

Sale of Personal Data, Targeting & Social Media Cookies

Under the California Consumer Privacy Act, you have the right to opt-out of the sale of your personal information to third parties. These cookies collect information for analytics and to personalize your experience with targeted ads. You may exercise your right to opt out of the sale of personal information by using this toggle switch. If you opt out we will not be able to offer you personalised ads and will not hand over your personal information to any third parties. Additionally, you may contact our legal department for further clarification about your rights as a California consumer by using this Exercise My Rights link

If you have enabled privacy controls on your browser (such as a plugin), we have to take that as a valid request to opt-out. Therefore we would not be able to track your activity through the web. This may affect our ability to personalize ads according to your preferences.

Targeting cookies may be set through our site by our advertising partners. They may be used by those companies to build a profile of your interests and show you relevant adverts on other sites. They do not store directly personal information, but are based on uniquely identifying your browser and internet device. If you do not allow these cookies, you will experience less targeted advertising.

Social media cookies are set by a range of social media services that we have added to the site to enable you to share our content with your friends and networks. They are capable of tracking your browser across other sites and building up a profile of your interests. This may impact the content and messages you see on other websites you visit. If you do not allow these cookies you may not be able to use or see these sharing tools.

If you want to opt out of all of our lead reports and lists, please submit a privacy request at our Do Not Sell page.

Save Settings
Cookie Preferences Cookie List

Cookie List

A cookie is a small piece of data (text file) that a website – when visited by a user – asks your browser to store on your device in order to remember information about you, such as your language preference or login information. Those cookies are set by us and called first-party cookies. We also use third-party cookies – which are cookies from a domain different than the domain of the website you are visiting – for our advertising and marketing efforts. More specifically, we use cookies and other tracking technologies for the following purposes:

Strictly Necessary Cookies

We do not allow you to opt-out of our certain cookies, as they are necessary to ensure the proper functioning of our website (such as prompting our cookie banner and remembering your privacy choices) and/or to monitor site performance. These cookies are not used in a way that constitutes a “sale” of your data under the CCPA. You can set your browser to block or alert you about these cookies, but some parts of the site will not work as intended if you do so. You can usually find these settings in the Options or Preferences menu of your browser. Visit www.allaboutcookies.org to learn more.

Functional Cookies

We do not allow you to opt-out of our certain cookies, as they are necessary to ensure the proper functioning of our website (such as prompting our cookie banner and remembering your privacy choices) and/or to monitor site performance. These cookies are not used in a way that constitutes a “sale” of your data under the CCPA. You can set your browser to block or alert you about these cookies, but some parts of the site will not work as intended if you do so. You can usually find these settings in the Options or Preferences menu of your browser. Visit www.allaboutcookies.org to learn more.

Performance Cookies

We do not allow you to opt-out of our certain cookies, as they are necessary to ensure the proper functioning of our website (such as prompting our cookie banner and remembering your privacy choices) and/or to monitor site performance. These cookies are not used in a way that constitutes a “sale” of your data under the CCPA. You can set your browser to block or alert you about these cookies, but some parts of the site will not work as intended if you do so. You can usually find these settings in the Options or Preferences menu of your browser. Visit www.allaboutcookies.org to learn more.

Sale of Personal Data

We also use cookies to personalize your experience on our websites, including by determining the most relevant content and advertisements to show you, and to monitor site traffic and performance, so that we may improve our websites and your experience. You may opt out of our use of such cookies (and the associated “sale” of your Personal Information) by using this toggle switch. You will still see some advertising, regardless of your selection. Because we do not track you across different devices, browsers and GEMG properties, your selection will take effect only on this browser, this device and this website.

Social Media Cookies

We also use cookies to personalize your experience on our websites, including by determining the most relevant content and advertisements to show you, and to monitor site traffic and performance, so that we may improve our websites and your experience. You may opt out of our use of such cookies (and the associated “sale” of your Personal Information) by using this toggle switch. You will still see some advertising, regardless of your selection. Because we do not track you across different devices, browsers and GEMG properties, your selection will take effect only on this browser, this device and this website.

Targeting Cookies

We also use cookies to personalize your experience on our websites, including by determining the most relevant content and advertisements to show you, and to monitor site traffic and performance, so that we may improve our websites and your experience. You may opt out of our use of such cookies (and the associated “sale” of your Personal Information) by using this toggle switch. You will still see some advertising, regardless of your selection. Because we do not track you across different devices, browsers and GEMG properties, your selection will take effect only on this browser, this device and this website.