Robots Battlefield - US Army Combined Arms Center

301 Pages·2014·3.28 MB·English

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 cov-
er 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 permis-
sion 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 collec-
tion 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 “sol-
diers.” 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 contri-
butions 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 tech-
nical 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 ex-
perts 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 offi-
cers 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 Tassigny. The school’s mission is to provide French and foreign students
with an education on one campus that combines academic excellence, thorough a
grounding in military science and demanding physical training. The school’s re-
search work, of which Robots on the Battlefield is one result, aims to understand
better the nature and scope of changes in international conflicts in order to enrich
the palette of knowledge useful for training cadets so that they are prepared as well
as possible to face difficult situations and understand the changing technologies
they will have to implement. The development of this knowledge is closely tied in
with the training of our cadets, who took active part in the workshop days, as can
be seen on the Ecoles de Saint-Cyr Coëtquidan website: http://www.st-cyr.terre.
defense.gouv.fr/.
We offer this work to our English-speaking colleagues in the hope that it
will make a modest contribution, by the exchanges it could spark, to better recip-
rocate knowledge and to reinforce comprehension and cohesion among the allied
forces working together in the main theaters of operation.
Brigadier General Antoine Windeck
Commander
Ecoles de Saint-Cyr Coëtquidan
vi
List of Contributors
Gérard de Boisboissel
Research Engineer at the Research Center of the French Military Academy
of Saint-Cyr (CREC Saint-Cyr).
Didier Danet
Associate Professor of Management, head of the Global Action and Land
Forces Department at the Research Center of the French Military Academy of
Saint-Cyr (CREC Saint-Cyr).
Thierry Daups
Associate Professor of Public Law, University of Rennes 1; associated
researcher at the Research Center of the French Military Academy of Saint-Cyr
(CREC Saint-Cyr)
Ronan Doaré
Associate Professor of Public Law, Director of the Research Center of the
French Military Academy of Saint-Cyr (CREC Saint-Cyr).
Éric Germain
Ph.D., Policy Advisor in charge of “Ethical, Religious & Societal issues”
at the Directorate for Strategic Affairs (DAS).
Captain (USN Ret.) Mark R. Hagerott
Deputy Director, US Naval Academy Center for Cyber Security Studies
and Distinguished Professor of Cyber Operations and Policy.
Jean-Paul Hanon
Senior Lecturer at the Research Center of the French Army Academy of
Saint-Cyr (CREC Saint-Cyr); lecturer at Sciences-Po Paris.
Dominique Lambert
Ph.D. in Theoretical Physics and Ph.D in Philosophy. Professor at the
University of Namur and member of the Belgian Royal Academy.
Georges Lucas
Class of 1984 Chair of Ethics, US Naval Academy and Professor of Ethics
and Public Policy, Naval Postgraduate School
Christian Malis
Adjunct Professor of Strategic Studies at the Saint-Cyr Military Academy.
Colonel Eric Ozanne
Plan and future capabilities office, officer in charge of dismounted combat
(2009-2012), French Army Staff. Commanding officer of the Second Infantry
Regiment of the French Foreign Legion (since 2012).
vii
Eric Pomes
Associate researcher at the Research Center of the French Military
Academy of Saint-Cyr (CREC Saint-Cyr).
Colonel (USMC Ret.) E.W. Powers
Ph.D. Research Fellow, Potomac Institute for Policy Studies Center for
Emerging Threats and Opportunities, Marine Corps Warfighting Lab, Quantico,
Virginia.
Colonel Eugene K. Ressler
Head, Department of Electrical Engineering & Computer Science, U.S.
Military Academy, West Point, New York.
Brigadier General Benoit Royal
Sub-directorate general in charge of the recruitment in the Army
(Army Human Resources Directorate, 2010-2013). Army Information and
Communication Branch Head (Army IC BH) and Public Affairs Advisor (PAA) of
the Chief of Army Staff (2007-2010).
Noël Sharkey
Professor of Artificial Intelligence and Robotics and Professor of Public
Engagement, University of Sheffield.
Colonel Barry L. Shoop
Deputy Department Head, Department of Electrical Engineering and
Computer Science, U.S. Military Academy, West Point, New York.
Colonel Alexandr Štefek
Head of AD Systems Department, Faculty of Military Technology,
University of Defence, Czech Republic.
Antonin Tisseron
Ph.D. in History, Independent Consultant and Research Fellow at the
Research Center of the French Military Academy of Saint-Cyr (CREC Saint-Cyr).
Serge Tisseron
Psychiatrist, psychoanalyst, HDR Doctor of Psychology at the University
Paris Ouest.
Dominique Vermersch
Professor of Ethics & Economics and Public policy at Agrocampus Ouest,
Angers, France.
General Jean-Philippe Wirth
Member of the Conseil Scientifique de la Défense, French expert comittee
advising the ministry of Defense on armament and Defense issues, former Deputy
Chief of Staff, Studies-Plans-Finances on the Army Staff.
Major General Michel Yakovleff
Deputy Chief of Staff Plans at Joint Force Command, Brunssum.
viii