Robot Cannon Kills 9, Wounds 14

Wired | 18 Oct 2007 | Noah Shachtman

[Spktyr]

We're not used to thinking of them this way. But many advanced military weapons are essentially robotic -- picking targets out automatically, slewing into position, and waiting only for a human to pull the trigger. Most of the time. Once in a while, though, these machines start firing mysteriously on their own. The South African National Defence Force "is probing whether a software glitch led to an antiaircraft cannon malfunction that killed nine soldiers and seriously injured 14 others during a shooting exercise on Friday."

SA National Defence Force spokesman brigadier general Kwena Mangope says the cause of the malfunction is not yet known...

Media reports say the shooting exercise, using live ammunition, took place at the SA Army's Combat Training Centre, at Lohatlha, in the Northern Cape, as part of an annual force preparation endeavour.

Mangope told The Star that it “is assumed that there was a mechanical problem, which led to the accident. The gun, which was fully loaded, did not fire as it normally should have," he said. "It appears as though the gun, which is computerised, jammed before there was some sort of explosion, and then it opened fire uncontrollably, killing and injuring the soldiers."

[Spktyr]

What idiot makes an automated weapons system with no kill switch???

Oh - ED209 was unavailable for comment.

[Spktyr]

Entire article link: http://blog.wired.com/defense/2007/10/robot-cannon-ki.html

[SatinDoll]

I find this suspicious. It is almost as though it had been written, as a movie script, by someone in Hollywood.

[FreedomCalls]

[punster]

To err is human.

To really screw things up, you need a computer.

Other variations:

To err is human.

To really screw things up, you need a congressional committee.

etc.

[Westlander]

Actually my hometown, Detroit, could really use this.

[chaos_5]

How about a congressional committee with a computer...

[Stoat]

Oerlikon 35mm Twin Field Air Defence Gun Type GDF-005

 

Oerlikon GDF-005

 

 

---

MAIN FEATURES
• Automatic reloaders which make it possible to feed and fire all the ammunition available on the gun without manual intervention
• Computer controlled Gun-King sighting system for 3-Dimensional target tracking with laser range finder
• Optimized Oerlikon 35mm type KDC automatic cannon with breech recoil brake, rate of attenuation and firing pin lock
• Weapon cover with built in automatic breech block lubrication
• Power supply system integrated with the gun
• 1 person gun operation
• Large supply of ready to fire ammunition on gun (280 rounds)
• Integrated full camouflage available as an option

TECHNICAL DATA
• Gun - Calibre - 35mm
• Rate of Fire - 2 x 550 = 1100 rounds/min
• Muzzle Velocity - 1175 m/s
• Barrel Length (90 cal) - 3150 mm
• Weight w/ammunition - 7700 kg
• Weight w/o ammunition - 7250 kg

GUN-KING 3-D SIGHT SYSTEM
• Periscope - Enlargement - 8x
• Periscope - Field of Vision - 8 deg.
• Laser - range - 4km
• Digital Microcomputer (max hit range) - 4 km

AMMUNITION
• Types - HEI, HEI-T, HEI-P, SAPHEI-T, TP, TP-T
• Mass of round - approx 1562 g
• Mass of projectile - approx 550 g
• Length of round - approx 387 mm

 

****************************************************************************************************************

• Gun - Calibre - 35mm
• Rate of Fire - 2 x 550 = 1100 rounds/min
• Muzzle Velocity - 1175 m/s

ummmm....yep, that's something that you don't want to get in front of..

[rednesss]

"Oh - ED209 was unavailable for comment."

I do not find you amusing. Put down your weapon, you have 15 seconds to comply!

[lesser_satan]

If it's going to slaughter innocent bystanders, at least they could make it aesthetically pleasing.

[Berlin_Freeper]

> Shall we play a game?

[Jedi Master Pikachu]

Echoes of HAL....

Though 2001: A Space Odyssey was a fairly lame movie.

[rmlew]

ummmm....yep, that's something that you don't want to get in front of..
You don't want to be in anything short of a tank in front of that.

The South Africans make some beautiful wheeled LAVs, but 10mm of steel may as well be cardboard to a 35mm HEI-T or SAPHEI-T (semi-armour piercing, high explosive, incendiary tracer) round.

[Mobile Vulgus]

Is it possible to place one of these canons in Congress?

[weegee]

People have no problems with computers/robots giving traffic tickets. How many would be prepared to let an ATM shoot to kill if it suspected that you were “robbing” the machine or attempting to get money from “someone else’s” account.

[familyop]

It was probably running on Java or C#.

[Tall_Texan]

[RichInOC]

"Dick, I'm very disappointed."

[ArtDodger]

General Dichead, “Nice toy you have here. What does this button do?”

“Click”

Brrrp!

General Dichead, “Oops! I mean, I didn’t push any button. It just started shooting. Right? RIGHT??”

[DeltaZulu]

Couldn’t be Java. The gun was way too fast. Couldn’t be C# either. Gun’s probably aren’t supported hardware. Sounds more like unmanaged code like C++. This whole incident adds a completely new dimension to the term ‘invalid pointer’.