The robots are already here, in the air on land and at sea. They are becoming an integral component of the combined arms operations of almost all modern armed forces. This article reviews the latest developments in military robotics in the world, with a special focus on Russia, China, Iran, Israel and the United States
The American army, for example, has more than 12,000 modern ground-based robotic systems in operation, and even more advanced models are on the way. In the next decade, ground-based remotely controlled vehicles will become the mainstay of military operations, as happened with the tank, which was the center of the concept of combined arms in the 20th century. Many armies around the world believe that next-generation ground-based robotic systems will transform the essence of ground warfare. Many countries are investing heavily in equipping their troops with robotic systems because robots have advantages over soldiers. They do not sleep, do not eat, and can continuously fight without any fatigue. Commercial use of robots is also expanding, making military robots less expensive, more efficient, and a wider range of models to build on in the future. The main advantage of "learning" neural networks is the emergence of new generation mobile robots, which will soon be found everywhere, from cleaning households (Roomba robots are already among us) to unmanned Google cars and facial recognition using artificial intelligence. Global investment in robots of all types, for military and commercial use, will exceed $ 123 billion by 2026.
Russian robotic systems
The Russian military has accelerated the development of robotic combat systems and intends to put them into service as soon as possible. Chief of General Staff, General Valery Gerasimov, looks forward to robots and collaboration with Russian elite units that have shown their capabilities in recent Russian operations in Crimea and Ukraine. The robots could solve many of Russia's problems, in particular manning and maintaining a sufficient number of draft-age men to fulfill Russia's ambitious new plans to regain its position as a regional and global power. "In the near future, it is possible that a fully robotic unit capable of independently conducting military operations will be created," Gerasimov wrote in 2013 in an article on Russia's new military doctrine.
Since 2013, the Russian defense industry has done much to make General Gerasimov's vision a reality. Several enterprises have developed ground-based robotic systems, including those for export. The Integrated Systems Design Bureau, for example, has developed a remotely controlled lightweight mobile tactical robot PC1A3 Minirex, which fits in a soldier's backpack.
In 2014, the Russian Ministry of Defense announced that five bases of the Strategic Missile Forces were being guarded by remotely controlled, armed robots of mobile security. Mobile strike-reconnaissance robotic systems MRK VN are used in conjunction with the Typhoon-M anti-sabotage combat vehicles, modified specifically to guard the RS-24 Yars and SS-27 Topol-M missile launchers. The Typhoon-M armored vehicle is a modification of the BTR-82 armored personnel carrier. The MRK VN robot is controlled by a human through an encrypted wireless connection. The Russian Ministry of Defense has promised that in the future MRK VN will receive an artificial intelligence system, which will allow the robot to be fully autonomous. In late 2015, the Russian Ministry of Defense took another step towards robotic warfare when Rosoboronexport announced it had a new combat robot ready for export, called Uran-9. The tracked armed robotic complex Uran-9, created at one of the enterprises of the State Corporation "Rostec", can be equipped with a variety of weapons, including 7.62-mm machine guns, 30-mm cannon 2A72, ATGM M120 Attack or ground-to-air missiles Igla or Arrow. Rostec claims that Uran-9 can be used to provide mobile fire support for counter-terrorism and reconnaissance units, as well as light infantry units, especially in urban combat. Fighting robot Uran-9 is controlled by a person who is located in a mobile control center.
Chinese land-based combat robotic systems
China is doing everything to catch up with the United States and Russia in the war robot race, and all means are good here. The United States suspects the Chinese of having stolen several American projects from the Pentagon contractor QinetiQ. As a result, the latest robots developed by the Chinese Harbin Institute of Technology and presented at the Beijing World Robot Conference 2015 are very similar to their American counterparts. The three robots on display were almost TALON clones: an explosive ordnance disposal robot, a reconnaissance robot, and an armed robot.
Norinco has also developed a family of combat robots called SHARP CLAW. SHARP CLAW 1 is very similar to the modular armed robot MAARS (Modular Advanced Armed Robotic System), developed by QinetiQ North America for the American army. The thought of Chinese designers has significantly advanced in the SHARP CLAW 2 model, which is a reconnaissance robotic vehicle with a 6x6 wheel arrangement weighing one ton, capable of independently performing its tasks. The SHARP CLAW 2 robot can be fitted with surveillance sensors and a quadcopter, and it can also act as a carrier and carry the SHARP CLAW 1 robot within itself. This larger combat robot can, upon command, release from its rear door and deploy the SHARP CLAW 1.
In order to control promising military robots, the Chinese army is also working on a human-machine interface. Chinese students at the University of Information Engineering in Zhengzhou are exploring the possibilities of a direct neural interface using an electroencelographic cap with electrodes to control robots.
Iranian military land robots
Iran is committed to developing its own self-sustaining defense industry, but is lagging far behind in the land-based robot race. In 2015, Iran tested an armed robot during large military maneuvers. Tasnim news agency reported that the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps has a remotely controlled combat robot with optical and thermal cameras, armed with a 7.62mm machine gun, which can operate at a distance of 7 km from its control station.
In the same year, Iran also showed the NAZIR 4x4 wheeled robot, which looks more like a toy, and not like a combat robotic complex. The Iranians say NAZIR can be armed with machine guns, two surface-to-air missiles or anti-tank guided missiles. There are solar panels on the roof of the car, but why they are not clear. The Iranians also claim that the NAZIR robot is completely autonomous, but this statement should be very skeptical.
Iranian news agency FARS posted a video on YouTube in which NAZIR introduces himself to senior officers as a soldier with a radio controller controls the robot. Currently, Iranian capabilities are very limited, but their desire to have combat robots is real and, if they have the money, they can buy the latest options from the Russians, who will happily sell them.
Hi-tech from Israel
Israel, as a world leader in all areas of high-tech weapons systems, has developed several fully autonomous ground-based robotic systems.
G-NIUS has developed families of ground robots and ground combat robots for the military and homeland security forces. The G-NIUS Unmanned Ground Systems (UGS) joint venture is an equal share between Israel Aerospace Industries (IAI) and Elbit Systems. The Guardium-MK III combat robot from G-NIUS is especially worth noting, as it is fully autonomous and has superior artificial intelligence, which allows it to work as a reconnaissance or armed platform in bad weather conditions and on almost any terrain.
Another impressive project is the AVANTGUARD MKII combat robot. This ground-based robotic system, based on various armored platforms, such as the M113 armored personnel carrier, has excellent mobility and is capable of carrying a wide variety of surveillance and weapons systems. The AVANTGUARD MK II is remotely controlled and is excellent for combat, security, logistics, and casualty evacuation missions.
The Israeli company Roboteam also deals with robotic systems. The MTGR (Micro Tactical Ground Robot) tactical ground micro-robot was deployed by infantry and special forces in an extensive network of tunnels in the Gaza Strip, often filled with explosives. Roboteam, through its US division, has won a $ 25 million contract from the US Air Force to supply a portable, step-climbing, field-proven system in support of explosive ordnance disposal missions. The company claims it is the world's lightest explosive ordnance disposal platform, carried by one person. The device weighing less than 6 kg travels at a speed of 2 miles per hour, can climb stairs and maneuver in dangerous confined spaces, and has a line-of-sight range of more than 500 meters. Its five cameras, an internal microphone and onboard infrared laser pointers provide intelligence on the surrounding environment, while video and audio data is transmitted over encrypted radio to operators and higher command posts.
USA on the crest of the wave of robotization
American military robots have been tested in combat conditions in Iraq, Afghanistan, as well as in the global war on terrorism. From time to time, new robots come into service with the United States, and outdated models are often modernized and repurposed. In late 2015, the U. S. Army deployed the PacBot 510 specialized chemical reconnaissance robots to the 2nd Infantry Division stationed in South Korea. The PackBot series of military robots is manufactured by iRobot, now renamed Endeavor Robotics. PackBot 510 can conduct surveillance and reconnaissance, carry out bomb disposal, RCB reconnaissance and operations for the processing of hazardous materials. It is carried in a backpack and ready to go in five minutes.
In 2014, US General Robert Cone, then head of the Office of Doctrine and Training, said robots could replace a quarter of the US Army by 2030. The introduction of robots will help reduce the number of soldiers in a standard 9-man infantry squad, as well as the number of combat brigades. This rise in robotization is driven by both cost, since people are very expensive in recruiting, training, combat readiness and logistics, and significant advances in robotization, sensor systems, power supply and energy storage systems, microcontrollers, technical vision and most importantly, advances in artificial intelligence. However, the rapid growth in the amount of knowledge accumulated by humans and the latest developments in an increasing number of areas of scientific development suggest that the replacement of humans by robots may happen earlier than General Cone predicted.
In June 2015, the US Army Research Laboratory published a draft research paper "Visualizing the Ground Battlefield in 2050". In this report, the authors concluded that "the most important problem of the mid-21st century will be the successful integration and management of aggregates, groups, clusters of robots that will act independently or together."
The authors envision a "2050 war space" teeming with robots of all kinds. These robots must maneuver and fight across the battlefield with “significantly greater capabilities of machine logic and intellectual autonomy than those that exist today … Other robots will act as intelligent disposable ammunition. They can operate in groups, such as groups of homing missiles and crawling or jumping smart mines. Some of these robots can be used in cyber / network defenses, including protecting electronic components on or in a person; serve as smart assistants to prevent or warn of attacking threats; or act as advisors for complex decisions, such as real-time detailed analysis of an action plan tailored to specific conditions. These deployed robots will be able to operate in a variety of control modes, from complete autonomy to active human intervention."
The report's authors predict that the battlefields in 2050 will be "flooded with robots of all kinds, robots that will outnumber human soldiers and robot-like fighters."
Meanwhile, the ratio of humans to robotic soldiers will continue to change as robotics advances, until humans disappear from the battlefield. We see this trend in air warfare, where manned aircraft are replaced by combat drones. The latest UAVs are completely autonomous for most of their tasks, but for many drones, the use of weapons is still under human control. Ground combat robots also have similar capabilities - they are remotely controlled or completely autonomous. In the case of remotely controlled robots, the operator can make an ethical decision - to kill or not to kill (provided that the communication channel is working). Undersecretary of Defense Robert Work calls this the Centaur Power metaphor. He uses it when he insists that American robots should always be controlled by humans in the near future. This will help avoid the emergence of concepts such as "autonomous killer robots". General Work's team, in an effort to remove soldiers from dangerous tasks and put robots in their place, is constantly looking for new breakthrough technologies not only in giant defense companies, but also in Silicon Valley.
What will the next wave of technological development bring? Investment and technological progress are accelerating all over the world and we seem to be heading towards robotic warfare. The main problem today is who will control the robots. Will robots be semi-autonomous or controlled by humans, or will they be completely autonomous killer robots? General Work's metaphor of the Centaur, the mythical half-human-half-horse with a human-like top and four-legged bottom, does not refer to the robot's design, but to two ways of controlling the robot. These Centaurs will be fully robotic systems with advanced artificial intelligence that makes them smart and partially autonomous while moving, but will be controlled by an operator in cover who will give the order to kill. Work believes that humans should be in the chain of control of robots, and without a doubt humans should make decisions, at least for the foreseeable future. In projects of military robots in Russia, China and Iran, there may not be such an interest in the presence of a person in the control chain as in American projects. Work believes that autocratic governments prefer robots over humans, as they do not trust people with lethal capabilities. How long will a person stay in the control loop and make responsible life-or-death decisions? Probably, this is a question for another 25-30 years. Development of ground robots around the world is progressing at an accelerated pace and the world seems to be moving steadily towards the time when battles with robots and robots among themselves become a reality.
