Wonder if EMP would knock out the computer system?
Raytheon, which developed computer systems for the USS Zumwalt, calls it a $5 billion unmanned vehicle, Unlike aerial drones, this will be manned
Among the high-tech features included on the USS Zumwalt—cannons that fire rocket-propelled, GPS-guided rounds and stealth design that gives the 610-foot ship the radar signature of a small fishing vessel—there’s also a computer intelligence capable of preparing the ship for battle and engaging enemy targets on its own. Think of it as a gigantic floating drone: “Most UAVs [unmanned aerial vehicles] are a few million dollars,” says Wade Knudson, who heads the Zumwalt project for Raytheon (RTN), which made most of the ship’s computer systems. “This is a $5 billion UAV
Just had a rather disturbing thought. With the growing trend to unmanned, remotely-controlled military hardware…what’s to stop those in power from eventually ruling from their ivory towers, with remote-controlled robots to keep us scared…
One of the many things that Science Fiction has taught us is this is EXACTLY where we are headed. This is a theme played out time and again in the genre. There are a multitude of documentary shows on the matter where NASA/DARPA gurus state that a lot of the time sci-fi is their biggest influence. Imagination is their only limit.
I’m not worried. Except that maybe that the Zumwalt will be attacked by a Russian ship that can become invisible and features a frighteningly powerful new weapon system…
I’m willing to bet we’ll see battle droids in less than 20 years.
And once we crack the human genome it won’t be long before JSOC has a bunch of Mandalorian super soldiers for more delicate operations not suited for battle droids.
OK, robots to fight battles? Like Hitler and Stalin had any problems finding people to do their dirty deeds.
Robots will never be anything more than a sentry/trip wire type weapon. The real world is just too complex to program in everything. Yes, they could be killers, but think snake like. 2 dimensional, relentless but with out much savy. Not saying that it isn’t dangerous, its just that they can’t program the thing to be Sargent York or Audy Murphy.
The real killer app is cyborgs ala Robocop. You take the brain with its trainability, flexible-response and guile and you augment it with the physical/weapons capability of machines. ‘But computer are getting smarter’- yes, and as they get ‘smarter’ and you try to have them figure out out real world situations with incomplete information you’ll find that they make mistakes and screw the robo-pooch just like we do. We aren’t dumb. We are the apex predators of a world with claws, fangs and venom.
Cyborgs, augmented cognition, and systems to integrate that with us at an unconscious level is were its at. Big A’s DNA modifications and 3D printed organs are all part of that.
To some, the foray into autonomous aircraft is a move that conjures images of killer drones, capable of choosing targets and hunting them down without human oversight.
The Pentagon’s expanding drone fleet has limited ability to operate autonomously. The Navy’s experimental combat drone, the X-47B, landed itself on an aircraft carrier last July. The Army wants to create a robot that can operate on its own in helping soldiers search for suspects.
Occulus rift style vr + high speed networks mean “dumb” robots could easily be operated from remote locations. All that money, training and experienced poured into a soldier becomes instantly transferable. Imagine the expertise locked in the head of a 65 year old seal/delta (insert the soldiers you most respect here) controlling a robot that is stronger and faster than any 22 year old soldier could ever be. One that doesn’t need food or water. If and when it gets destroyed just activate another one, switch data feeds and get the robot to the battle.
Think about what lost the air war in Europe. It wasn’t better allied equipment. It was the destruction of the loss of German pilots to fly the planes effectively. Or one of the major limiters on wars for the U.S. today. The thoughts of U.S. men and women dieing over seas, being away form family etc. Switch off the “death” factor. Instead of going to Afg for 9 months at a pop a soldier could go home after missions and hand the robot off to another person. And while in a battle or weird situation someone could easily ask for help. “Hey Larry/Kyle, what would you do here?” I don’t think it will ever 100% replace people (until we are fighting the robots ). Throw automatic targeting of weapons on top and it is a heck of a force multiplier.
Given that the ship is named after Admiral Zumwalt, will ship’s company have to wear the ice cream truck driver uniforms that Zumwalt pushed on enlisted people back in his day?
People really need to stop using the phrase drone. Nothing the U.S. uses is a ****ing drone. Drones are autonomous. We have remotely piloted vehicles (guess what, RPV replaced RPA which replaced UAV like 5 years ago.) The way the media refers to everything as a drone strike implies a much more nefarious thing than it really is. There are like 150 people involved in every Pred line that flies, just like this ship, it is FAR from autonomous.
In Star Wars, Mandalorian Supercommandos aren’t genetically modified or -augmented soldiers, they’re just extremely well-trained dudes (and dudettes) from a clannish warrior culture in armor with more functions than a Swiss Army Knife.
Semi-related, the Six Acts of a Mandalorian:
[ul][li]Wearing armor.[/li][li]Speaking the language [Mandalorian].[/li][li]Defending yourself and your family.[/li][li]Raising your children as Mandalorians.[/li][li]Contributing to the clan’s welfare.[/li][li]When called upon by the Mand’alor, rallying to his cause.[/ul][/li]
Invisibility is theoretically possible, Sensei - selective bending of light - but the power cost is enormous. They may have solved that problem.
:jester:
I’ve heard that life is somewhat surreal for drone operators: They spend hours a day surrounded by a war on the far side of the planet… and then they go home to their families and “return” to the “real world”. Without a middle ground between that daily violence and desperation and the more pacific qualities of domestic existence.
I imagine that it would be even worse for (what I’ll call) battle droid operators. They spent hours on patrol, got involved in a firefight, shoved their arm through the face of a Talib, &c. And then went home to their wives and children, going from an ultra-violent/boring job to going back home and dealing with an environment where violence is incredibly rare.
Of course, the good/bad news is that command could give insane ROE (like only shoot at those who are shooting at you) and not have to worry about any of their soldiers/sailors/Marines/airmen dying because of it. And then there will be a shooting at the base where these battle droid operators are located and all (or a large number of) American infantry combat operations will cease for hours or days.
[/li]
Correct, and we all know that the Clone Troopers/ Imperial Stormtroopers are clones of the Mandalorian bounty hunter Jango Fett.
Yup, and there are more than one party working fast and furious on this tech, bending light, cameras, etc. There was a vid that surfaced several years ago that was supposed to be a guy running around Iraq in an invisibility cloak. Not sure how authentic it was but damn, if it is real then you can only imagine the shit we don’t know about. Nothing new really as the Philadelphia Experiment which was conducted in the fall of 1943 was an attempt to see if a ship could be cloaked or masked from enemy radar. The results were more than controversial . . .
). Throw automatic targeting of weapons on top and it is a heck of a force multiplier.