Out of Sight out of Mind - 02/17/05 05:02 PM
"The Pentagon is spending ?70 billion [$130 billion] on a programme to build heavily-armed robots for the battlefield in the hope that future wars will be fought without the loss of its soldiers' lives.
The scheme, known as Future Combat Systems, is the largest military contract in American history and will help to drive the defence budget up by almost 20 per cent to just over ?265 billion [$500 billion] in five years' time.
Much of the cash will be spent computerising the military, but the ultimate aim is to take members of the armed forces out of harm's way. They would be replaced by robots capable of hunting and killing America's enemies. "
"The Swords robots come in several versions, carrying either a machine gun, grenade launcher or a light anti-tank weapon."
""The lawyers tell me there are no prohibitions against robots making life-or-death decisions," he said.""
Pentagon prepares to build ?70bn robot army
The scheme, known as Future Combat Systems, is the largest military contract in American history and will help to drive the defence budget up by almost 20 per cent to just over ?265 billion [$500 billion] in five years' time.
Much of the cash will be spent computerising the military, but the ultimate aim is to take members of the armed forces out of harm's way. They would be replaced by robots capable of hunting and killing America's enemies. "
"The Swords robots come in several versions, carrying either a machine gun, grenade launcher or a light anti-tank weapon."
""The lawyers tell me there are no prohibitions against robots making life-or-death decisions," he said.""
Pentagon prepares to build ?70bn robot army