Taranis
BAE SystemsRobotic weapons need further regulation to ensure that
"automated killing" never becomes legal. With nations including the
UK investing heavily in high-tech drones, academics from Oxford
University's Institute for Ethics, Law and Armed Conflict have
called on lawmakers to pay closer attention to keep pace.
The use of robotic drones in Afghanistan, Iraq,
Pakistan and Yemen is already hugely controversial. But new
technological developments will mean that drones can soon deliver
their payloads without any human intervention. A new policy paper from the Oxford Martin School calls on
governments and manufacturers to act swiftly to ensure that robotic
weapons are adequately regulated.
Recommendations include prioritising human oversight
and control and ensuring that humans can always be held responsible
for the actions of a robotic weapon. States and military should
also work together to decide when and where robotic weapons can and
can't be used.
The development of robotic weapons is set to gather
pace in the coming years. The UK military is currently testing the
BAE Systems Taranis, a semi-autonomous unmanned war plane (pictured).
Taranis is designed for intercontinental missions, can attack air
and ground targets and can be controlled from anywhere in the
world.
Taranis
BAE SystemsAlex Leveringhaus, lead author on the policy paper,
warned that robotic weapons such such as Taranis risked reducing
the role of the human operator.
"New military technologies and their deployment are in danger of
outpacing the development of an appropriate regulatory framework.
There is now an urgent need for states, the military and
manufacturers to work together to respond to justified legal and
moral concerns."
The paper states that it is too complex to universally
condemn or approve robot weapons, adding that it would be wiser for
governments and critics to consider them on a case-by-case basis.
With nations including the UK, US and France already investing
heavily in robotic weaponry an outright ban is unlikely, according
to Leveringhaus.
"International humanitarian law fully applies to
robotic weapons. The question is whether it needs to be reformed to
deal with robotic weapons. In the paper, we argue that it does not
need to be reformed. Rather, we should apply existing legal
frameworks and ensure these are enforced properly," he said.
Don't
miss
Leveringhaus added that the use of drones in populated
areas could be made illegal and that human oversight must be
prioritised at all times: "What one could do is to make
certain uses of these weapons illegal -- for example in populated
areas where they might encounter humans -- but this does not equal
a wholesale ban."
Source Article from http://www.wired.co.uk/news/archive/2014-12/1/military-robots-drones-new-regulation http://cdni.wired.co.uk/620x413/s_v/taranis1.jpg
Killer robo-weapons need 'case-by-case regulation'
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