Coming Sooner Than You Might Think: Humanoid-type Robotic Armies, $1,000 Unmanned Vehicles Capable of Mass Destruction. Have a Nice Day

By Joe Rothstein
Editor, USPolitics.einnews.com

February 17, 2009

One of EINNEWS' most popular on-line publications is Militaryindustrytoday.com, a favorite destination for thousands of people and companies worldwide monitoring news of military activities, weapons, defense contracts and the like.

As I scan this site daily, I've been struck by the increasing number of stories featuring unmanned aerial vehicles, robots that diffuse roadside bombs, and other military applications that more and more mirror science fiction.

Now, an important and influential book, Wired for War, puts all of this together and explains not only what we see in today's headlines, but where it's all leading. It's nothing short of a civilization game changer. And it's happening quickly. Some highlights:

Most robotic scientists and U.S. military leaders agree that somewhere between 2020 and 2025 it will be possible for nations to field humanoid-type robotic armies. That's right, robotic armies, not that much different in concept and practice from the ones that battle it out in Star Wars. We're talking 10 to 15 years from now. About the time your young children are ready for college.

Even today, more than 12,000 robots are at work in Iraq and Afghanistan defusing roadside bombs, serving as bloodless medics and performing other dangerous tasks. More than 5,000 unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) are in the skies of Iraq and Afghanistan---- from model airplane size that can be launched by an individual on the ground to the Global Hawk, a full sized aircraft that serves as an unmanned AWACs-type eyes-in-the-skies battle area monitor.

Many of these UAVs are actually “flown” by pilots sitting in Nevada and elsewhere. A whole new class of pilots are spending their days flying missions, finding enemy targets and launching missiles and bombs, and then leaving their cubicles located thousand of miles away from the battlefield to have dinner with their families or take their kids to Little League practice.

The Navy is in the robotic game as well. It's just launched a destroyer designed to be a mothership to all types of robotic devices: unmanned submarines, “smart” torpedoes, unmanned helicopters, and ship-launched protections that can intercept threatening incoming missiles.

This is not fantasy, folks. This is real. And according to Peter Singer, the author of Wired for War, scientists believe that what's being deployed today represents the model T versions of what's to come. Some estimate that in 25 years robots will be a billion times smarter and more powerful than they are today.

All of this raises some breathtakingly important questions. Such as:

What is “warfare” when the fighters are detached by thousands of miles from the place of the fighting?

Since robotics are so inexpensive to develop and deploy (43 nations currently have active robotics development programs) what is the impact on the current U.S. military behemoth? Don't robotics essentially neutralize the financial and industrial advantage the U.S. has in warfare, the way the development of guns neutralized the advantage of size and strength in hand-to-hand combat?

(Scary note: An unmanned drone can be built for as little as $1000 and is a very efficient way to deliver weapons of mass destruction).

How does any nation protect itself from attack by unmanned vehicles that might be as small as an insect?

What is a “warrior,” if the most valuable of fighting skills resemble video game-type dexterity and quickness?

Who's responsible for war crimes when they are committed by robots?

Just so you know that all of this is not sci-fi channel edge of reality stuff, I should tell you that Dr. Peter Singer, the book's author, is director of the 21st Century Defense Initiative at the Brookings Institution, and one of the world's leading experts on changes in 21st century warfare.

I was at Brookings the day Dr. Singer introduced his book. Sharing the platform with him was Marine General James Mattis, NATO's supreme allied commander for transformation. General Mattis is the buzz-cut picture of the hardened combat warrior. He commanded the 1st Marine Division during the initial invasion of Iraq. A just-the-facts type of guy, General Mattis was there to support Dr. Singer's research and conclusions.

In his book, Dr. Singer has picked up the strands of known information from the military, the laboratories, the private companies currently producing robotics, and military people in Iraq, Afghanistan and in the distant cubicles where the wars are also being fought. He's blended all of this into a highly readable, non-technical, thoroughly convincing picture of today's realities---along with a UAV-like over the horizon image of what's ahead for the future of warfare.

What emerges is such a game changer for everything we now consider war, government, and civilization itself that my one column doesn't do it justice. That's why I'll have more to say about this in future columns.

Joe Rothstein, editor of US Politics Today, is a former daily newspaper editor and long-time national political strategist based in Washington, D.C.

See all previous articles by Joe Rothstein here.