Military technology
Robot warriors take over the battlefield
Military technology
Written by Peter Warren   

 

fcs-sugv1Robot vehicles are increasingly taking a role on the battlefield - but their deployment raises moral and philosophical as well as technical questions, says Pete Warren. 

Thursday October 26, 2006
The Guardian

(Appeared under headline 'Launching a new kind of warfare'.)

In November 2004, during the second battle of Fallujah, an American uncrewed aerial vehicle (UAV) - a robot plane - located a mortar battery that had been hampering the US operation to retake the town.The mortar's position was logged by the UAV's operator, who was sitting at his desk in Nellis Air Force base near Las Vegas, thousands of miles away.

 
Nasa technology used in high-tech bloodhound
Military technology
Written by Peter Warren   
A computerised nose millions of times more sensitive than a bloodhound’s has become the latest high-tech weapon in the police’s war against drugs.
For the nose following the distinctive trail of aromatic smoke from a Marijuana joint will be child’s play, this nose is capable of sniffing out the existence of a chemical on a passing asteroid
 
US military deploy robot sentries in Iraq
Military technology
Written by Peter Warren   
Commissioned by the Sunday Times

The ruthless nature of the Iraq war has forced the US military to deploy robots armed with machine guns at military checkpoints to deal with suicide bombers.
The robots, developed from technology used to deal with unexploded bombs, can be armed with a fearsome range of weaponry but the first of the 18 units due to be sent to Iraq this month will be armed with rifles or machine guns according to US military sources.
The small tank-like machines can carry flame-throwers, grenade and rocket launchers and will be controlled by soldiers from distances of over half a mile away.