[yhwhsman]

Cool technology they're working on, though I find the idea of a 'war' without a human being on the battlefield rather odd.

[yhwhsman]

Interesting possiblity for the Stryker. Thought you might be interested.

[endthematrix]

An unmanned stryker is still a bloated and costly program, part of the Future Combat System fromBoeing/SAIC, United Defense, General Dynamics land systems. Get a taste of some other unmanned ground vehicles here. There is a picture floating on the net of an entry robot wielding a HK MP-5!

[Cannoneer No. 4]

An unmanned Stryker is part of the military's effort to move more machines into battle to save both money and lives. "Well before the end of the century, there will be no people on the battlefield," said Robert Finkelstein, a professor at the University of Maryland's School of Management and Technology.

Companies throughout the defense industry, among them United Defense LP of Arlington, Lockheed Martin Corp. of Bethesda and the smaller Gaithersburg-based Robotics Research LLC, are developing robotic systems to fill a variety of military functions. For General Dynamics' robotic systems department, making robot brains -- called autonomous navigation systems -- represents the largest business deal in the unit's 14-year history. In November, it won a $185 million award to develop between 30 and 60 automated-navigation prototypes that can be fitted onto vehicles of different size and function, not just Stryker vehicles.

Creating automated navigation systems for combat vehicles is part of the Future Combat System project to remake warfare. The Army plans to spend $14.78 billion on a new combat system over the next six years, of which autonomous navigation systems is one part, according to Maj. Gary Tallman, public affairs officer for the Army.

Founded in 1990 as F&M Manufacturing, the Westminster plant where Stryker's brain is being developed started out designing small, remote-controlled vehicles. Over time, the 80,000-square-foot facility made robots that sorted mail, read bar codes and packaged pharmaceuticals. General Dynamics purchased F&M, which employs 268 people, for an undisclosed amount of money in 1995.

Using autonomous machines in the military became possible in the mid-1980s, when computer processors became faster. In the 1990s, the development of improved sensor technology allowed machines to pick up more information about their environment. Now, autonomous systems can keep track of their whereabouts using global-positioning satellite links, and talk to comrades and commanders through wireless links that shut off automatically if the signal is in danger of being intercepted.

The first unmanned military vehicles made in the early 1980s by the Defense Department were huge vans the size of UPS delivery trucks, filled with hundreds of pounds of clunky computers that could barely navigate at 5 miles an hour in relatively flat terrain. By comparison, Stryker can navigate through forests and desert environments, or drive on the road at top speeds of 60 miles an hour.

Even with these developments, robots still have a lot to learn.

[jriemer]

Cool technology they're working on, though I find the idea of a 'war' without a human being on the battlefield rather odd.

Skynet is now.

[armymarinemom]

Waiting to see how the Stryker is going to handle the other area of deployement too.

[VOA]

Cool technology they're working on, though I find the idea of a 'war' without a
human being on the battlefield rather odd.

Putting a unmanned aerial vehicle with a Hellfire missle at risk against
Islamo-fascists works for me.

Right now I'd wish NASA was teaching the military about making/using small robots to
search out Osama in a cave somewhere or to seek/destroy the rat-b@$tards
building IEDs or blowing up oil lines in Iraq.

Of course, that would get the knickers of peace-utopians in a knot...
turning space technology into peace-winning technology here on earth.