Posted on 10/24/2014 2:37:02 AM PDT by sukhoi-30mki
Picture courtesy of Kongsberg.
Australia’s new fighter jets could be armed with controversial robot-controlled missiles that critics claim can “make decisions to kill without human interference”.
The Joint Strike Missile is close to final development by Norway’s Kongsberg Gruppen. It’s a $1.3 billion bet by the country to make it the standard weapon for the F-35.
Back in June, Australia was one of the first countries to express interest in arming its F-35 fleet with the JSM. It’s also been pitched to Japan and South Korea but now it’s close to completion, it’s looking increasingly likely to become the missile of choice worldwide for the controversial fighter.
In Norway, as more details of the technology on-board the JSM are revealed, MPs and activist groups are concerned to the point where they believe the weapon could perform attacks that contravene international law.
They’re dubbing the JSM a “killer robot” and say it has a partially autonomous ability to identify targets and make its own decisions to strike known as Autonomous Target Recognition.
Officially, it’s most impressive features are its small profile and ability to use topographical data to evade destruction right up to impact point.
Picture: Courtesy of Forsvarsdepartementet
It has a 280km range and can also communicate with other JSMs in the air.
The F-35 will be able to carry two internally (read: “hidden”) and an as-yet unspecified amount externally, but it’s the fact it is the only powered anti-ship missile that can fit inside the F-35 bays that makes it such an attractive option worldwide.
Norwegian Peace League member Alexander Harang has made several futile attempts to get Norway’s Parliament to discuss the moral implications of rolling out the JSM. He and UN special investigator Christof Heynes believe its development signals the time is past due for guidelines to be put in place on just how autonomous weapons should be allowed to get.
“We have seen during the last decade that the distance between the soldier and the target increase,” Heyns told The Local.
“But what we see now is that the weapon becomes the warrior.”
Testing on the JSM will begin next year. It’s expected to become fully operational in 2025.
In other words, the F-35 has to survive and get within 152 NM of an enemy ship to use the missile ...
Better than having to fly directly over a ship with iron bombs.
Dark Star!!! Bomb #20. /totally obscure
It seems to me that the title is misleading. When the pilot deploys the missile, it is the pilot who has made the decision to ‘kill’. The missile can then make a decision NOT to kill if it does not find a proper target.
You so get a gold star for that movie reference; well played,sir.
I tend to agree.
This is a missile. It must be launched, and only then does its calculation become something to be concerned with.
I agree we don’t want weapons which sit around and wait for themselves to “calculate” that there is a threat, but a missile does not launch itself.
Certainly better. I checked to see if Russia (and by extension China) have any anti-air missiles with ranges out to 150 NM, but apparently do not.
ThankYouVeryMuch /Elvis
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