Unmanned weapons: "revolution" or abuse

The drone attack on the Iraqi prime minister's official residence has made people pay more attention to the ethical issues of war behind it while paying attention to the development of the situation in Iraq.

Unmanned weapons: "revolution" or abuse

Recently, Iraqi Prime Minister Khadimi was attacked by a suicide drone in his official residence in the "green area" of the capital Baghdad. Although Kadimi himself was not injured in the attack, the incident has raised concerns among the international community about whether Iraq's political situation, which has just completed parliamentary elections, will once again descend into turmoil, adding to fears of the misuse of unmanned weapons.

Unmanned weapons are increasingly favored for their low cost, non-contact, zero casualties and other characteristics. Whether it is fighting terrorism or in a regular battlefield, unmanned weapons have been widely used, constantly refreshing people's understanding of the form of war. In the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, the image of Azerbaijani drones launching "execution-style" strikes against the Armenian army shocked the world; on the Syrian battlefield, Russian combat robots captured 754.5 heights in the form of swarm charge, which was impressive.

In recent years, the research and development of unmanned weapons has been accelerating. The United States is developing robots that can dig holes like earthworms, and Israel has successfully developed snake-like robots... According to statistics, in the delivery structure of global military aircraft, the proportion of unmanned aerial vehicles has exceeded the proportion of manned fighters. More and more military experts believe that after gunpowder, nuclear weapons, and precision-guided weapons, the development of unmanned weapons will once again profoundly change the face of war.

Technology has always been a double-edged sword. The application of unmanned weapons on the battlefield also brings deep ethical problems to war. There is also a growing discussion about the misuse of unmanned weapons.

For example, in 2019, Saudi Arabia's oil base was attacked by a drone swarm, causing international oil prices to soar in the short term. This attack on important production facilities not only affects Saudi Arabia's national economy and people's livelihood, but also seriously affects the stability of international energy supply.

For example, the use of unmanned weapons to carry out so-called "targeted killings" against specific people has also raised concerns in the international community. Before the attack on Kadimi, Venezuelan President Maduro, Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps Quds Force Brigade Brigade Brigade Commander Sulaimani, "Nagorno-Karabakh Republic" Defense Minister Aruthyaniyan, and Iranian nuclear scientist Fakhrizadeh were attacked by unmanned weapons, of which only Maduro was lucky enough to escape the disaster.

Civilian casualties caused by unmanned weapons are even more condemned. According to the data, nearly one-third of the deaths caused by overseas drone attacks carried out by the US military in recent years are civilians. The virtual environment away from the battlefield can greatly dilute the sense of awe of war among combatants. After all, "it is impossible for a controller to hear the screams of a victim or truly feel a burning body from thousands of miles away." The use of unmanned weapons is already difficult to constrain by traditional principles of international law and the ethics of war.

Compared with nuclear weapons and precision-guided weapons, unmanned weapons represented by unmanned aerial vehicles have typical "civilian" characteristics. Although there are many "expensive" people, most of them are relatively inexpensive, unlike nuclear weapons and precision-guided weapons, which have "high thresholds" and are therefore more likely to spread. The drones that attacked Maduro and Cadimi are ordinary drones that can be purchased on the market. When flying with "low, slow, and small" characteristics, this kind of unmanned aerial vehicle is in the detection blind spot of most military radars, coupled with its low noise, it is difficult to completely prevent. The U.S. Embassy's advanced air defense system, C-RAM, successfully intercepted rockets that attacked the "Green Zone" last year, but this time it did not react.

In addition, there are also concerns that once the intelligence of the fully autonomous unmanned combat system surpasses that of humans, it will be possible to stage a real version of the Terminator scene, and humans will be completely excluded from the "combat chain" and helpless. It is precisely for this reason that unmanned combat still needs "people in the loop", stay in the "circle of control" of the operation, and retain the power to "plug in the pin" at the end. (Li Ruijing, Wang Yi)

Source: People's Liberation Army Daily