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."

[Dumpster Baby]

"Sorry, Dave, I'm afraid I can't do that...."

[familyop]

"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’."

I was joking. ...could even have been assembly. Most civilian "embedded" (custom device oriented) projects continue to find developers who are stuck in C, although that might change as machines get much faster soon, and more projects, much larger.

And you probably already know that runaway processes can be caused by many other things, too: bad peripheral devices, climate conditions,...

[Pylon]

I had the same problem with my PC until I switched to Firefox.

[mad_as_he$$]

Software traps and watchdog timers are prudent in any system where humans can be harmed.

[Robert A Cook PE]

Oh Shiitte!

(Now, he wonders cynically, would the brasses’ response be different if the automatic cannon had swept through the benches and reviewing stand where the brass were standing?)

[beebuster2000]

did u notice that on full auto it can only fire for 12 seconds before dry?

[familyop]

"This whole incident adds a completely new dimension to the term ‘invalid pointer’."

Those can be really hard to catch before production use--especially without peer code reviews and much runtime testing.

[familyop]

"Software traps and watchdog timers are prudent in any system where humans can be harmed."

That's true, and thanks. ...another good reminder for newbies like me. :-)

[vetvetdoug]

In other news, James Watson is being stripped of his duties at the University he works for making disparaging remarks about ethnic intelligence.....

[Lion Den Dan]

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

Ask Dr, Watson.

[SmithL]

Doncha’ just hate it when that happens?

[dfwgator]

Actually my hometown, Detroit, could really use this.

I'll buy that for a dollar.

[Trueblackman]

How did I know, when I saw this thread that ED-209 would make a guest appearance?

[MinuteGal]

Hey, guys.....you hafta aim the cannon AWAY from you.

Leni

[444Flyer]

I know this is gonna sound crazy, but I think one of those is the Governor of California!

[Bloody Sam Roberts]

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

Yeah, but "2010: Odyssey Two" was a hell of a good one...and it actually made sense out of the first one.

[Doohickey]

Only when attempting automation do people discover that while automation can certainly save time and resources, it will tend to be somewhat...shall we say...indiscriminate.

[Just another Joe]

It was the BAD robot from Robocop 2 – Cain!

[The_Media_never_lie]

Had the designers not seen the Terminator movies?

[Dick Vomer]

I'm sure the after action report went something like this....

Sir right before everybody died I saw this.....