US Army Now Holding Drills With Ground Robots That Shoot

[Peter1469]

US Army Now Holding Drills With Ground Robots That Shoot

Wow. Combat Engineers with Infantry support are clearing an obstacle and a remotely piloted M113 provided fire support with a .50 cal.

I bet the pucker factor was high.

In a historic first, the Army conducted a live fire exercise with a remote-controlled ground combat vehicle armed with a .50-caliber machine gun. It plans to conduct more exercises with more heavily armed ground robots within the next couple of years.

The demonstration was part of the annual Northern Strike exercise, which took place last July and August at Michigan’s Camp Grayling. Primarily geared toward reserve units, this year’s event debuted an unmanned, heavily armed M113 armored personnel carrier. The driver and the weapons operator followed behind in a slightly larger M577 command post vehicle.


“The scenario here was a complex breach in a minefield,” Paul Rogers, director of the Army’s Tank Automotive Research Development and Engineering Center, or TARDEC, said at the AUVSI conference on Wednesday. “You had engineer platoons with infantry support going in and putting in bangalore torpedos,” long tubes of explosives used to clear mines, he said. The remotely piloted M113 provided suppressive fire as the engineers worked.

[Max Rockatansky]

Good stuff. Now all they need is a master computer to control it all. We could call it Skynet, Colossus or HAL 9000.

[Peter1469]

Good stuff. Now all they need is a master computer to control it all. We could call it Skynet, Colossus or HAL 9000.

Right, that is just what we need!

[Max Rockatansky]

Right, that is just what we need!

Robots are all fun and games until someone loses an eye!

[Common]

Good stuff. Now all they need is a master computer to control it all. We could call it Skynet, Colossus or HAL 9000.

WOW Max is that really you? come back after what 3 yrs. Do you miss DC junkies

[MisterVeritis]

US Army Now Holding Drills With Ground Robots That Shoot
Wow. Combat Engineers with Infantry support are clearing an obstacle and a remotely piloted M113 provided fire support with a .50 cal.
I bet the pucker factor was high.

One of the things my team did in 2003-2005 was remotely operating a robot to chase down and fire upon a perp. We used two paintball guns. We controlled movement and firing over a network connection. One camera looked forward and down. The other was boresighted with the two guns.

It worked very well.

[Max Rockatansky]

WOW Max is that really you? come back after what 3 yrs. Do you miss DC junkies

I've been bouncing around other forums. I usually belong to only one at a time, but at the moment this is the second one I frequent.

[Common]

I've been bouncing around other forums. I usually belong to only one at a time, but at the moment this is the second one I frequent.

DC Junkies was one of the worst left wing forums ever but ive been told recently that Political Hotwire is far worse, can you even imagine that ?

[Ethereal]

The removal of the human element from warfare continues apace. Tactically speaking, there are advantages to be gained. Philosophically speaking, it presents serious problems. The trick is trying to balance the two. But that is unlikely to happen in the current environment. Philosophy is not really in the plutocracy's wheelhouse.

[Peter1469]

The removal of the human element from warfare continues apace. Tactically speaking, there are advantages to be gained. Philosophically speaking, it presents serious problems. The trick is trying to balance the two. But that is unlikely to happen in the current environment. Philosophy is not really in the plutocracy's wheelhouse.

I think robotic or automated combat platforms are a serious moral issue. I get that it prevents harm to our troops- but that is too easy to abuse.