Russian "Battle Bots" in their final stage of testing can fire for 10 uninterrupted hours. Posted on 01/02/2015 1:23:15 PM PST by dignitasnews
Russian military officials announced today that machine gun wielding "battle bots" have entered the final stage of testing, ushering in a dangerous new era of warfare. While initial plans for the "Terminator-like" death robots are initially slated to guard intercontinental missile sites as early as 2020, military experts predict we could see non-human infantry as a primary weapon to be used in ground assaults and defense in the not too distant future.
Major Dmitry Andreyev of Russia's Defense Ministry Strategic Missile Force made the announcement Friday that testing of the battle bots was entering its final stages. "Trials will be focused on exploring mobile and stationary robotic systems," reported Andreyev, "including those that are responsible for the formulation of remote-control means of stealth technology and sighting."
In April of last year Russia's Strategic Missile Forces reported that silo protecting robots will carry a 12.7-mm machine gun and can fire continuously for 10 hours interrupted, with the potential to fight for up to a week straight without maintenance or reloading. With a speed of 45 kilometers (close to 28 miles) per hour and no fatigue factor to compensate for, the weapon could prove to be the most formidable assault weapon in the history of mankind.
In 2007 the United States had abandoned its SWORDS project, bomb-disposing robots, due to its "un-commanded and unexpected movements." In May of 2014 the United Nations held the first discussions on the topic of robotic warfare, citing the dark potential of a future where unmanned killing machines led military assaults.
Russia has already begun utilizing armed robots on its fifth-generation submarines. In June of 2014, Admiral Viktor Chirvok, commander-in-chief of Russia's Navy reported cited the "combat capabilities of multipurpose nuclear and non-nuclear submarines will be improved in the future by the integration into the arsenal of promising robotic systems," adding ominously that, "this is already planned and plans are being carried out."
Russian "Battle Bots" in their final stage of testing can fire for 10 uninterrupted hours.
P.W. Singer, senior fellow with the Brookings institute, sees robotic warfare as the most significant development in human behavior in more than 5,000 years. While at first glance they seem to be a natural and useful tool for military arsenals, the United States included, he warns problems will arise as these systems grow more complex and increasingly dangerous as artificial-intelligence develops which threatens to potentially move the decision-making away from humans to the robotic systems themselves. "Warfare will go open source. I've talked to a researcher that told me $50,000 worth of robots could shut down New York City for a day," warns Singer.
The Russian Government admitted last year that a new military laboratory for robotic warfare had already become operational. Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Rogozin announced plans to build the facility in 2013, expressing an interest in utilizing the robotic warriors to thwart "terrorist" threats but it has been long suspected the nation was moving toward utilizing the technology for first-strike offensive capabilities.
In addition to the current project of androids with driving and firing skills, the government-published Rossiiskaya Gazeta has listed robotic combat systems capable of firing on their own accord, without disclosing specifics. President Vladimir Putin has long dismissed this as "rumor and stuff of science fiction fantasy," but as Russia moves ever closer to incorporating non-human assault soldiers into its regular military apparatus, a frightening new era of battle bot warfare seems to have been ushered in.
By Dignitas News Service
Sources:
MoscowTimes Forbes RussiaTimes_ViaYouTube
I’m sort of glad it’s the evil Russians... I thought it would be US who was first to introduce robotic terminators.
Program them not to hurt people, and all wars are Bot vs Bot and I’m ok with this. Could be kinda cool. Good fun. It would totally blow away world cup.
Oh,, and 10 uninterrupted hours of 50 cal fire? Dude,, seriously.
Do you see anywhere on that machine that 10 HOURS of 50 cal ammo could sit? Along with a battery pack or even fuel tank that would last a week?
Wonder if they’ll work better than the dogs the Russians strapped bombs on during WWII and trained to run under tanks.
Unfortunately, they were trained to run under Russian tanks...
Most importantly, these machines are not even needed to fight for 10 hours. It would be perfectly acceptable if they can fight for 30 minutes as a group, with up to 1,000 rounds per gun. The reinforcements cannot be farther away than that.
Along with a battery pack or even fuel tank that would last a week?
If these robots are intended for guard duty, they don't need to patrol continuously. Patrolling is useful only when you don't have enough sentries. Everything else in a moving patrolman is a disadvantage. A robot could remain motionless during most of the shift, running on batteries - and that won't require too much energy. In the active phase the robot could start a small gasoline engine; then it would have enough power to move around.
Peter W Singer, sounds familiar, he’s been discussed here. Must have talked with Al Gore about his ‘open-source’ website, snicker. And those toys are far from invulnerable.
Yeah, me too . . . “peace in our time,” and all that (to continue your thought).
At 400 rounds per minute, 10 hours would be 240,000 rounds.
That’s a whole lot of weight and bulk.
2,285 standard 50 cal boxes.
You’ll be sorry...
Ok, first Skynet reference.
In WW2 the Russians and the Germans had remotely controlled and very small vehicles. They didn’t make much of a showing on the battlefield. I fully expect that the next war will be largely Israel’s drones against Iranian nuclear sites and Iran’s defenses. The one after that will be full AI’s. Who that is can’t be determined yet.
“I’m sort of glad it’s the evil Russians... I thought it would be US who was first to introduce robotic terminators.”
We’ve had autonomous drones for a few years already. They can take off, do a mission, and land on an aircraft carrier all without any human intervention.
Good grief...these bots are designed to protect nuclear missile sites from terrorist attacks not run amok in American cities.
You'd have to pretty far out on the McCain spectrum to consider this development a threat.
Not to mention a very large number of replacement barrels!
“Unfortunately, they were trained to run under Russian tanks...”
I’ve never heard that! Whoa. Epic fail.
The ammunition supply appears to be the box on the right. It could hold maybe 2000 rounds of belt-feed. Enough to hold out until reinforcements show up.
Hardly 10 hours worth. That's just marketing hype by the Russian arms industry lobbyists.
Pure, unmitigated, Ru-ski Bolshevitski!
I should think it relativity easy to blind sensors w/ lasers, rf noise, EMP, or similar. I would guess that if these things are supposed to operate autonomously that they will have an integral kill switch to prevent "friendly fire" incidents. (food for thought!)
When we capture one or two it should be easy to reverse engineer the C&C software/hardware and then send these machines back where they came from with new targets designated.
Oh please, please turn your spanking new killing machines loose. I want to watch the "end game". We can field generations of juvenile delinquents weaned on video games and hacking operating systems. (It should be fun to watch...)
Regards,
GtG
Metalstorm has made outlandish claims as to it's cyclic rate of fire, but they never say what the rate is after the last tube has run dry.
Who on God's green earth is going to hump enough ammo to keep up? Consider that the "ammo" consists of a rifled barrel of the correct bore size, filled to the top with powder and projectiles.
It is a solution looking for a problem. I expect that it costs more then a Claymore mine and once it's shot it's wad it anin't worth diddly squat.
Regards,
GtG
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