Development trends of the XXI century: from new technologies to innovative armed forces
In the UK, they prefer marine unmanned systems.
In 2005, the US Department of Defense, under pressure from Congress, significantly increased compensation payments to the families of killed servicemen. And just in the same year, the first peak in spending on the development of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) was noted. In early April 2009, Barack Obama lifted the 18-year ban on the participation of media representatives in the funeral of servicemen killed in Iraq and Afghanistan. And already in early 2010, the WinterGreen Research center published a research report on the state and prospects for the development of unmanned and robotic military equipment, containing a forecast of significant growth (up to $ 9.8 billion) of the market for such weapons.
Currently, almost all developed countries of the world are engaged in the development of unmanned and robotic means, but the US plans are truly ambitious. The Pentagon expects to make by 2010 a third of all combat aircraft designed, among other things, for delivering strikes in the depths of enemy territory, unmanned, and by 2015, a third of all ground combat vehicles will also be made robotic. The US military's dream is to create fully autonomous robotic formations.
AIR FORCE
One of the first mentions of the use of unmanned aerial vehicles in the US Air Force dates back to the 40s of the last century. Then, in the period from 1946 to 1948, the US Air Force and Navy used remotely controlled B-17 and F-6F aircraft to perform the so-called "dirty" tasks - flights over nuclear explosions to collect data on the radioactive situation on the ground. By the end of the 20th century, the motivation for an increase in the use of unmanned systems and complexes, which can reduce possible losses and increase the confidentiality of tasks, has increased significantly.
So, in the period from 1990 to 1999, the Pentagon spent over 3 billion dollars on the development and purchase of unmanned systems. And after the terrorist act of September 11, 2001, the cost of unmanned systems increased several times. Fiscal 2003 was the first year in US history that UAV spending surpassed $ 1 billion, and in 2005, spending rose another $ 1 billion.
Other countries are trying to keep up with the United States. Currently, more than 80 types of UAVs are in service with 41 countries, 32 states themselves produce and offer for sale more than 250 models of UAVs of various types. According to American experts, the production of UAVs for export not only allows maintaining their own military-industrial complex, reducing the cost of UAVs purchased for their armed forces, but also ensuring the compatibility of equipment and equipment in the interests of multinational operations.
GROUND TROOPS
As for the massive air and missile strikes to destroy the infrastructure and forces of the enemy, in principle they have already been worked out more than once, but when ground formations come into play, losses among personnel can already reach several thousand people. In World War I, the Americans lost 53,513 people, in World War II - 405,399 people, in Korea - 36,916, in Vietnam - 58,184, in Lebanon - 263, in Grenada - 19, the first Gulf War claimed the lives of 383 American military personnel, in Somalia - 43 people. Losses among the personnel of the US Armed Forces in operations conducted in Iraq have long exceeded 4,000 people, and in Afghanistan - 1,000 people.
The hope is again for robots, the number of which is steadily growing in conflict zones: from 163 units in 2004 to 4,000 in 2006. Currently, more than 5,000 ground-based robotic vehicles for various purposes are already involved in Iraq and Afghanistan. At the same time, if at the very beginning of the "Iraqi Freedom" and "Enduring Freedom" operations in the ground forces there was a significant increase in the number of unmanned aerial vehicles, now there is a similar trend in the use of ground-based robotic means.
Despite the fact that most ground robots currently in service are designed to search and detect landmines, mines, improvised explosive devices, as well as demining them, the command of the ground forces expects to receive the first robots that can independently bypass stationary and movable obstacles, as well as detect intruders at a distance of up to 300 meters.
The first combat robots - Special Weapons Observation Remote reconnaissance Direct action System (SWORDS) - are already entering service with the 3rd Infantry Division. A prototype of a robot capable of detecting a sniper has also been created. The system, dubbed REDOWL (Robotic Enhanced Detection Outpost With Lasers), consists of a laser rangefinder, sound detection equipment, thermal imagers, a GPS receiver and four stand-alone video cameras. By the sound of a shot, the robot is able to determine the location of the shooter with a probability of up to 94%. The entire system weighs only about 3 kg.
At the same time, until recently, the main robotic means were developed within the framework of the Future Combat System (FCS) program, which was part of a full-scale program of modernization of equipment and weapons of the US ground forces. Within the framework of the program, the development was carried out:
- reconnaissance signaling devices;
- autonomous missile and reconnaissance and strike systems;
- unmanned aerial vehicles;
- reconnaissance and patrol, shock and assault, portable remotely controlled, as well as light remotely controlled engineering and logistics support vehicles.
Despite the fact that the FCS program was closed, the development of innovative weapons of warfare, including control and communication systems, as well as most of the robotic and unmanned vehicles, was retained as part of the new Brigade Combat Team Modernization program. At the end of February, a $ 138 billion contract was signed with Boeing Corporation to develop a batch of experimental samples.
The development of ground-based robotic systems and complexes in other countries is also in full swing. For this, for example, in Canada, Germany, Australia, the main focus is on the creation of complex integrated intelligence systems, command and control systems, new platforms, elements of artificial intelligence, and improving the ergonomics of human-machine interfaces. France is stepping up efforts in the development of systems for organizing interaction, means of destruction, increasing autonomy, Great Britain is developing special navigation systems, increasing the mobility of ground complexes, etc.
NAVAL FORCES
The naval forces, in which the use of uninhabited naval vehicles began immediately after World War II, did not go unnoticed. In 1946, during an operation on Bikini Atoll, remotely controlled boats collected water samples immediately after the nuclear tests. In the late 1960s, remote control equipment for minesweeping was installed on seven-meter boats equipped with an eight-cylinder engine. Some of these boats were assigned to the 113th mine-sweeping division, based in the port of Nha Be in South Saigon.
Later, in January and February 1997, the Remote Minehunting Operational Prototype (RMOP) participated in a twelve-day mine defense exercise in the Persian Gulf. In 2003, during Operation Iraqi Freedom, unmanned underwater vehicles were used to solve various problems, and later, as part of the US Department of Defense program to demonstrate the technical capabilities of advanced weapons and equipment in the same Persian Gulf, experiments were carried out on the joint use of the SPARTAN apparatus and a cruiser URO "Gettysburg" for reconnaissance.
Currently, the main tasks of unmanned marine vehicles include:
- anti-mine warfare in the areas of operation of aircraft carrier strike groups (AUG), ports, naval bases, etc. The area of such an area can vary from 180 to 1800 square meters. km;
- anti-submarine defense, including the tasks of controlling the exits from ports and bases, ensuring the protection of aircraft carrier and strike groups in the deployment areas, as well as during transitions to other areas.
When solving anti-submarine defense tasks, six autonomous naval vehicles are capable of ensuring the safe deployment of an AUG operating in the area of 36x54 km. At the same time, the armament of hydroacoustic stations with a range of 9 km provides an 18-km buffer zone around the deployed AUG;
- ensuring security at sea, which provides for the protection of naval bases and related infrastructure from all possible threats, including the threat of a terrorist attack;
- participation in maritime operations;
- ensuring the actions of special operations forces (MTR);
- electronic warfare, etc.
To solve all problems, various types of remotely controlled, semi-autonomous or autonomous sea surface vehicles can be used. In addition to the degree of autonomy, the US Navy uses a classification by size and application, which makes it possible to systematize all developed means into four classes:
The X-Class is a small (up to 3 meters) unmanned maritime vehicle for providing MTR operations and isolating the area. Such a device is capable of conducting reconnaissance to support the actions of a ship group and can be launched even from 11-meter inflatable boats with a rigid frame;
Harbor Class - devices of this class are developed on the basis of a standard 7-meter boat with a rigid frame and are designed to perform tasks of ensuring maritime security and conducting reconnaissance, in addition, the device can be equipped with various means of lethal and non-lethal effects. The speed exceeds 35 knots, and the autonomy is 12 hours;
The Snorkeler Class is a 7-meter semi-submersible vehicle designed for mine countermeasures, anti-submarine operations, as well as supporting the actions of special operations forces of the Navy. Vehicle speed reaches 15 knots, autonomy - 24 hours;
The Fleet Class is an 11-meter rigid body designed for mine action, anti-submarine defense, and naval operations. The speed of the vehicle varies from 32 to 35 knots, the autonomy is 48 hours.
Also, unmanned underwater vehicles are systematized in four classes (see table).
The very need for the development and adoption of marine uninhabited vehicles for the US Navy is determined by a number of official documents of both the Navy itself and the armed forces as a whole. These are Sea Power 21 (2002), Quadrennial Defense Review (2006), National Strategy for Maritime Security (2005), National military strategy (National Defense Strategy of the United States, 2005) and others.
TECHNOLOGICAL SOLUTIONS
Fighting robot SWORDS is ready to step off the carpet on the battlefield.
Unmanned aviation, like, in fact, other robotics has become possible thanks to a number of technical solutions associated with the emergence of an autopilot, inertial navigation system and much more. At the same time, the key technologies that make it possible to compensate for the absence of a pilot in the cockpit and, in fact, make it possible for UAVs to fly, are technologies for creating microprocessor equipment and communication means. Both types of technologies came from the civilian sphere - the computer industry, which made it possible to use modern microprocessors for UAVs, wireless communication and data transmission systems, as well as special methods of compressing and protecting information. The possession of such technologies is the key to success in ensuring the necessary degree of autonomy not only for UAVs, but also for ground-based robotic equipment and autonomous marine vehicles.
Using the rather clear classification proposed by the staff of Oxford University, it is possible to systematize the "abilities" of promising robots into four classes (generations):
- the speed of the processors of the first generation universal robots is three thousand million instructions per second (MIPS) and corresponds to the level of a lizard. The main features of such robots are the ability to receive and perform only one task, which is programmed in advance;
- a feature of second generation robots (mouse level) is adaptive behavior, that is, learning directly in the process of performing tasks;
- The speed of the processors of the third generation robots will already reach 10 million MIPS, which corresponds to the level of a monkey. The peculiarity of such robots is that only a demonstration or explanation is required to receive a task and learn;
- the fourth generation of robots will have to correspond to the human level, that is, it will be able to think and make independent decisions.
There is also a more complex 10-level approach to classifying the degree of UAV autonomy. Despite a number of differences, the MIPS criterion remains the same in the presented approaches, according to which, in fact, the classification is carried out.
The current state of microelectronics in developed countries already allows the use of UAVs to perform full-fledged tasks with minimal human participation. But the ultimate goal is to completely replace the pilot with his virtual copy with the same capabilities in terms of decision-making speed, memory capacity and the correct algorithm of action.
American experts believe that if we try to compare the capabilities of a person with the capabilities of a computer, then such a computer should produce 100 trillion. operations per second and have sufficient RAM. Currently, the capabilities of microprocessor technology are 10 times less. And only by 2015 the developed countries will be able to reach the required level. In this case, miniaturization of the developed processors is of great importance.
Today, the minimum size of silicon semiconductor processors is limited by their production technologies based on ultraviolet lithography. And, according to the report of the US Secretary of Defense's office, these limits of 0.1 micron will be reached by 2015–2020.
At the same time, the use of optical, biochemical, quantum technologies for creating switches and molecular processors can become an alternative to ultraviolet lithography. In their opinion, processors developed using quantum interference methods can increase the speed of computation by thousands of times, and nanotechnology by millions of times.
Serious attention is also paid to promising means of communication and data transmission, which, in fact, are critical elements of the successful use of unmanned and robotic means. And this, in turn, is an essential condition for effective reform of the armed forces of any country and the implementation of a technological revolution in military affairs.
The US military command's plans for the deployment of robotic assets are grandiose. Moreover, the most daring representatives of the Pentagon sleep and see how whole herds of robots will fight wars, exporting American "democracy" to any part of the world, while the Americans themselves will sit quietly at home. Of course, robots are already solving the most dangerous tasks, and technical progress is not standing still. But it is still very early to talk about the possibility of creating fully robotic combat formations capable of independently conducting combat operations.
Nevertheless, to solve emerging problems, the most modern technologies are used to create:
- transgenic biopolymers used in the development of ultra-lightweight, ultra-strong, elastic materials with increased stealth characteristics for UAV housings and other robotic equipment;
- carbon nanotubes used in electronic systems of UAVs. In addition, coatings made of electrically conductive polymer nanoparticles make it possible, on their basis, to develop a dynamic camouflage system for robotic and other weapons;
- microelectromechanical systems that combine microelectronic and micromechanical elements;
- hydrogen engines to reduce the noise of robotic equipment;
- “smart materials” that change their shape (or perform a certain function) under the influence of external influences. For example, for unmanned aerial vehicles, the DARPA Research and Scientific Programs Directorate is experimenting to develop the concept of a variable wing depending on the flight mode, which will significantly reduce the weight of the UAV by eliminating the use of hydraulic jacks and pumps currently installed on manned aircraft;
- magnetic nanoparticles capable of providing a leap forward in the development of information storage devices, significantly expanding the "brains" of robotic and unmanned systems. The technology potential achieved through the use of special nanoparticles 10–20 nanometers in size is 400 gigabits per square centimeter.
Despite the current economic unattractiveness of many projects and studies, the military leadership of leading foreign countries is pursuing a purposeful, long-term policy in the development of promising robotic and unmanned weapons for armed warfare, hoping not only to retain personnel, to make all combat and support tasks more secure, but and in the long term, develop innovative and effective means to ensure national security, counter terrorism and irregular threats, and effectively conduct modern and future operations.
