UAV Successfully Fires Test Rockets
A couple days ago the RQ-8 Fire Scout fired two Mark 66 unguided rockets, becoming in the process the first autonomous, unmanned helicopter to undergo a successful live weapons fire.
Northrop Grumman is developing the Fire Scout for both the Army and Navy. "Today's test is a big step in the development of future UAVs across the entire industry," said Doug Fronius, Northrop Grumman's Fire Scout program director. NG is a big player in the unmanned autonomous vehicle field - uavs in service, production or development include the U.S. Air Force RQ-4 Global Hawk and Army RQ-5 Hunter that are already in service; the BQM-34 and BQM-74 aerial targets; the multi-role Hunter II proposed for the Army's next-generation, extended-range, multi-purpose UAV program; the X-47 Joint Unmanned Combat Air Systems for the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, Air Force and Navy; and advanced systems like the KillerBee program being developed for low-altitude, long-endurance missions.
This is the future. Stealth can be defeated. Spoofing and jamming systems can be defeated. Any manned combat vehicle is vulnerable. Given our aversion to avoidable casualties, it will make increasing sense for hazardous missions to be alotted to autonomous combat vehicles. Instead of sending a billion dollar B-1, and risking the lives of its crewmen, send in a a flock of hundred thousand dollar drones armed with bombs and missiles. With satellite links back to controllers sitting in front of a monitor hundreds of miles away, you have greater ability to call the shots and ensure the destruction of the target. Loss of one or two drones doesn't risk mission failure. No possiblility of friendly casualties. The fighter jocks and bomber pilots in all the services will fight this hard, but the logic of redunduncy, accuracy, safety, economy will eventually win no matter what they do.
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I read a short story once-
I read a short story once- Asimov, I believe- that had the remnants of humanity living underground, forced there after nuclear war. The war was ongoing though, and the subterranean society continued to function to support the war effort.
Anyway, besides the radiation and utter desolation on the surface, autonomous killbots roamed at will destroying all life. That's what the robots told the humans, anyway.
Are autonomous killbots our future?
Yes.
Yes.
Autonomous, but not
Autonomous, but not necessarily totally without direction.
I've kinda decided to start covering the uav/autonomous killbot thingy more thoroughly, and to avoid the "I would like to be the first to welcome our new robot overlords" bit, at least on the serious ones. I'll save the robot overlords shtick for the really goofy stories, like squid brains hooked up to xbox games.
Mmm, nuh uh it was monkeys I
Mmm, nuh uh it was monkeys I believe. Weren' t they monkeys?
I think directionless autonomous killbots would be really spiffy to utterly, thoroughly vanquish enemies.
Actually, they would do more than conquer. They could *delete*. Set them loose within the geographical parameters you program, and they extermiate every biped they see.
Good Lord, we're making Daleks.
Buckethead: You are right,
Buckethead: You are right, just about 20 years ahead of the game. Right now the Firescouts are running around 7 million a copy. Now once production begins the price will drop, but down to 100K? Not in this life time.
Mechanically, we have the technology to build some serious drones. I personally think that an unmanned heavy bomber is the way to go. Not a stealth bomber, but a bomber built along the lines of a B52 with the emphasis on heavy bombing & long endurance. (A flying artillery barrage)
Drones have two issues, one is software. Current computing has the horsepower, but we need to develope some solid artifical intelligence programs and sensor fusion abilities.
The second issue is technology maturity: we need to have proven technology capable of mass production.
Until these two objects are overcome, your dream is going to remain a fantasy.
James, certainly that is true
James, certainly that is true today. But twenty years ago we didn't have cell phones, the internet and computers had no hard drives and less computing power than the toaster in my kitchen. Where will we be twenty years from now? Moore's law predicts that a thousand dollar computer will have as many switches as a chimpanzee brain about then.
Making a bet that those technological hurdles will be, uh, hurdled is a safe bet.
As far as producing large quantities of smart devices, well, we know how to do that, it's just a matter of setting up the production lines.
Good idea on the heavy bomber. I personally can dig the idea of really huge, mean looking robots loaded with enough bombs to level a city. Current drones are kinda cute - small, not very lethal looking. That will change, too.
Not now, but soon.