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Robots Replace Soldiers In First of Its Kind Obstacle-Breaching Exercise (military.com)
Long-time Slashdot reader cold fjord writes: U.S. and British troops have completed a first-of-its-kind exercise using robots for breaching a complex anti-tank/anti-personnel obstacle as part of what was titled the "Robotic Complex Breach Concept demonstration" at the Grafenwoehr training area in Germany. The exercise included a number of robotic systems, including remotely controlled British Army Terrier engineering vehicles (five cameras, including thermal imaging), UAVs for reconnaissance and chemical agent detection, and the M58 Wolf under remote control and used to provide smoke screens...
British Warrant Officer Robert Kemp stated that breaching enemy obstacles is one of the most dangerous tasks on a battlefield, and that, "Any breach like this will have enemy weapons trained in on the area... Roboticizing breach operations takes away the risk of life and makes clearing enemy obstacles much safer." U.S. Army officer 1st Lt. Felix Derosin said, "As an engineer, this means a lot to me... The casualty rate for a breach is expected to be 50 percent. Being able to take our guys away from that, and have some robots go in there, is a very positive thing for us. In the future, this can save engineers' lives."
The engineer added later that "Being able to see it, eyes on, shows me what the future is going to be like, and it's pretty good."
British Warrant Officer Robert Kemp stated that breaching enemy obstacles is one of the most dangerous tasks on a battlefield, and that, "Any breach like this will have enemy weapons trained in on the area... Roboticizing breach operations takes away the risk of life and makes clearing enemy obstacles much safer." U.S. Army officer 1st Lt. Felix Derosin said, "As an engineer, this means a lot to me... The casualty rate for a breach is expected to be 50 percent. Being able to take our guys away from that, and have some robots go in there, is a very positive thing for us. In the future, this can save engineers' lives."
The engineer added later that "Being able to see it, eyes on, shows me what the future is going to be like, and it's pretty good."
No one spares a thought for the poor bloody robots
From the comments section of the article regarding why the US doesn't seem interested in this UK robot:
"...Now if we could spend $128million per unit for a machine designed in North Dakota, tested in Florida, pre assembled in Colorado, disassembled for ease of transport in Georgia, and reassembled in Wyoming to be shipped to Texas for global distribution (with separate transport firms handling each leg) then we’d be talking. Plus a $155million per unit variant for the Navy’s Army too. That’s the American way to wage war. Of course we’ll sell them to the Saudis for $2million and free to Israel."
-- It's funny because it's true.
But we are probably in the process of developing a similar robot with well-connected US companies and it will achieve the requirements stated in that comment.
Been done before.
Yeah, sure it has newer tech and everything, but it's been done before.
How positive this news seems. "Being able to take our guys away from that...".
It will not be AI or the robots that will take over. A robotic army controlled by a happy few can suppress anyone without discriminating between civilian and military targets.
Cluster bombs, biological and several other kind of such weapons are banned in a lot of countries. Where's our common sense here?
This in the end it's just going to cause more atrocity and wasted resources. The more convenient war is the more likely we are to fuck up and decide to enter it again. The only person who wins a war is the guy who didn't fight and out waited all the other people
If they're remote-controlled, aren't they just automatons?
Can we turn down the hype on the "AI" and "robot" stuff maybe? It's all very much overrated.
no doubt someone will find it cool for killing civilian children from the comfort of their home country , and even more cost effective !
Now where are all the poor people who can't afford healthcare and educations going to get jobs?
If robots took over all wars, it wold still be humans fighting when all the bots were destroyed.
The way the funding for the military system works, especially in the US , is it is relatively easy so siphon off a lot of money for armament and operations but human resources are more difficult to handle. You can't be wasteful with them and they wear out.
Privatization can mitigate this somewhat but in the end it has the same problems. If robots can replace humans there are less restraints, more freedom, and more money to pump into the system.
Have gnu, will travel.
The only person who wins a war is the guy who didn't fight and out waited all the other people
So I guess the only real winners in WW2 were the 10 million Jews, gypsies, and homosexuals?
If that's your idea of victory then I hope you'll be victorious in all of your endeavours.
how about if we just stop slaughtering people all over the world, in their own countries, people who are no conceivable threat to us. Breaching obstacles will be a lot less necessary.
Don't worry! This tech will be used by the globalists in the US government to conquer all the countries in the world. Imagine a game of Risk, and you get the idea. After the whole map has only one country's armies on it, there will be no further war. Ever. Pax Eternal.
Then the US will kneel before the UN or successor supranational organization and surrender its sovereignty, to become a province of a global government. This isn't some crazy conspiracy theory, it's the conclusion reached by elites that the post-Westphalian world needs to go. For more information, read Tragedy & Hope: A History of the World in Our Time by Carroll Quigley Bill Clinton had him as a professor, and called him the most important influence on his life. You can read it free online here. The more high-tech war equipment we have, the more wars we can start, and the sooner we can achieve world conquest.
Shutting down free speech with violence isn't fighting fascism. It IS fascism!
Just wait until this tech trickles down into police forces and the robotic breach force comes a knockin at your door for
Says the young, naïve Army engineer.
20 years later, as the Terminators are exterminating his unit, the engineer decides to rethink the wonderful robotic soldier revolution.