Robots Battlefield

Robots on the Battlefield Contemporary Issues and Implications for the Future Ronan Doaré, Didier Danet, Jean-Paul Hanon, & Gérard de Boisboissel General Editors Combat Studies Institute Press US Army Combined Arms Center Ecoles de Fort Leavenworth, Kansas Saint-Cyr Coétquidan Cover Photos: Photo #1. American Soldier, taken from “A Statement on the Posture of the United States Army, 2010,” submitted by the Honorable John M. McHugh and General Gearoge W. Casey, Jr. to Committees and Subcommittees of the United States Senate and the House of Representatives, February 2010, page 15; https://secureweb2.hqda.pentagon.mil/VDAS_ArmyPostureState- ment/2010/2010_army_posture_statement.pdf. Copyright Reprint permissions (CGSC Copyright Registration #10-1045 C/E), United States. Photo #2. French Soldier. Source: Saint-Cyr French Military Academy - 56381 GUER Cedex, France, 9 November 2011. Photo #3. French Robot, ECA. Source: Saint-Cyr French Military Academy - 56381 GUER Cedex, France, 9 November 2011. Robots on the Battlefield Contemporary Perspectives and Implications for the Future by Ronan Doaré, Didier Danet, Jean-Paul Hanon, and Gérard de Boisboissel General Editors Combat Studies Institute Press US Army Combined Arms Center Ecoles de Fort Leavenworth, Kansas Saint-Cyr Coëtquidan Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Library of Congress Control Number: 2013957146 First Printing January 2014 Layout and Design by Elizabeth J. Brown Combat Studies Institute Press Combat Studies Institute Press publications cover a wide variety of military history topics. The views expressed in this CSI Press publication are those of the author(s) and not necessarily those of the Depart- ment of the Army or the Department of Defense. A full list of digital CSI Press publications is available at http:/ usacac.army.mil/CAC2/CSI/index.asp. The seal of the Coambat Studies Institute au- thenticates this document as an official publication of the CSI. It is prohibited to use CSI’s official seal on any republication without the express written permission of the Director of CSI. ii Acknowledgements This project was made possible thanks to the financial support of the Délé- gation aux Affaires Stratégiques (Directorate for Strategic Affairs, French MoD) which funded translations of several of the chapters in this collection. Selected chapters in this anthology were previously published in Ronan Doaré and Henri Hude (eds.) Les robots au coeur du champ de bataille (Paris, 2011). Per- mission to publish English translations of these chapters in this collection has been granted by the original publisher, Les Editions Economica. Selected chapters in this anthology were previously published in Didier Danet, Jean-Paul Hanon, and Gérard de Boisboissel (eds.) La guerre robotisée (Paris, 2012). Permission to publish English translations of these chapters in this collection has been granted by the original publisher, Les Editions Economica. “The Use of Robots on the Battlefield: Benefits, Constraints, and Limita- tions for Soldiers” by Gérard de Boisboissel was previously published in Vaclav Krivanek and Alexandr Stefek (eds.) International Conference in Military Technol- ogy Proceedings (ICMT), (Brno, 2013). Permission to publish an English transla- tion of this chapter in this collection has been granted by the original publisher. iii Foreword Technological implications are often less obvious than technological innovations. Learning the uses and the limitations of any new technology can take a long time... subsequent generations are apt to regard those who go through this process as having held antiquated, even weird, notions. —John Lewis Gaddis Technological innovation brings with it the promise of greater efficiency. This is particularly true for innovations applied to the implements of war. Moreover, at punctuated intervals throughout human history technical and scientific develop- ments have resulted in a nonlinear change of both battlefield tactics and national strategies. The airplane, the tank, and the magazine-fed rifle are modern examples, but the bow and the stirrup had equally revolutionary impacts on the armies of their times and later. Still, the process of innovation and the many avenues of explora- tion required before success is achieved can desensitize those who witness it. Since 2001, the United States and its allies have employed a host of unmanned or remote- operated “robotized” devices to support military operations both on the ground and in the air. The proliferation of this technology tends to lessen our recognition of its potential to dramatically change the character of warfare. Although much of the world’s current experience with ground robots is directly related to the clearing of mines and IEDs, it is not unreasonable to expect that within the lifetimes of current flesh-and-blood soldiers the world will witness the first use of mechanical “soldiers.” Because of that, and because robotics offer both state and non-state actors a truly bloodless and potentially revolutionary alternative to traditional combat, the arguments presented in the following chapters are both timely and appropriate. The first cooperative publishing effort between the Combat Studies Institute and Les Ecoles de St. Cyr Coëtquidan, this volume should spark further discussion between policy-makers and military practitioners, as well as among ethicists, scientists, and acquisition specialists. The Combat Studies Institute is indebted to Brigadier-Gen- eral Antoine Windek and the contributing authors for choosing our press to bring to this volume to the English-speaking world. Colonel Thomas E. Hanson Director Combat Studies Institute iv Preface Robots on the Battlefield is the first work published in the United States by the Ecoles de Saint-Cyr Coëtquidan, the French military officer training facility. It is the fruit of cooperation with the Combat Studies Institute of the US Army Com- bined Arms Center, whom I wish to thank for their active part in this initiative. I look forward to seeing other joint publications from this original cooperation in the future. The issues of this work are those to which everyone interested in or con- cerned with the world of defense at the highest level—members of the armed forces, as well as political leaders, industrialists, NGOs and university faculty in every field—should pay attention. As the school which trains the future officers of the French Army, Saint-Cyr Coëtquidan is no stranger to these issues. Saint-Cyr Coëtquidan has contributed to the discussion on robotization through a research program and a series of special events, a high point of which was an international colloquium in November 2011, attended by delegates from West Point, Annapolis, and Quantico, among others. Robots on the Battlefield also includes major contributions from talks at workshops and colloquia held as part of the Ecoles de Saint- Cyr Coëtquidan research program. The theme of robotization of the battlefield is approached here from the angle of social and political sciences. The work does not cover scientific and technical aspects of the question but concentrates on legal, ethical, psychological, so- ciological, tactical, and strategic issues, in order to provide an overview of how the amazing development of military robots is going to change the conditions under which our armed forces act: preventing conflicts, coming between hostile parties, military intervention per se, and stabilizing and reconstructing the countries con- cerned. Without necessarily evoking “robolution” (the idea that robotization has led to revolutionary change and a turning point in military history), the multiplica- tion of remotely controlled machines, some of which are capable of autonomous decisions and actions, transforms the conditions of using force and raises a number of questions about opportunities and threats: the balance of costs, advantages and risks; operational and budgetary priorities; compatibility with the laws of armed combat and military ethics; the organization of forces; the use of robots in conjunc- tion with other arms; tactical changes; the impact on enemies and the population; and, more broadly, a change in the very sense of the military profession. To answer these diverse and complex questions, the Pôle Action Globale et Forces Terrestres (the Saint-Cyr Coëtquidan Global Action & Land Forces Re- search Center) has been conducting a research program with a wide range of experts representing various stakeholders in the field of battlefield robotics. The ma- jority of these experts have a European perspective, which North American readers v may find less familiar, but which, I hope, they will enjoy discovering. The work includes analyses by leaders of the French armed forces, by industrialists in the field, and by university professors specializing in defense issues. American readers will of course be on familiar ground with major contributions from our colleagues from the US Military Academy, the US Naval Academy and the Marine Corps University, whom we thank wholeheartedly for their involvement in this research program. The Ecole Spéciale Militaire de Saint-Cyr, founded in 1802 by first consul Napoleon Bonaparte just before the Battle of Austerlitz, has trained future officers of the French Army for over two centuries. The school’s graduates include a long line of military figures who distinguished themselves in battlefields around the globe, including Hubert Lyautey, Joseph Galliéni, Charles De Gaulle, and Jean de Lattre de

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