America is building a killer robot army

We’ll find out soon if the military’s recruiting strategy works on artificial intelligence.

The US plans to incorporate thousands of autonomous robots into its fighting forces over the next two years, as part of a plan to use technological innovation to counter China’s larger military resources, officials announced this week.

⏩ Driving the move… US officials say the Replicator program is meant to help overcome China’s biggest military advantage over America. Which, simply put, is “mass.”

In recent years, China has expanded its military by investing in planes, ships, missile systems and other weapons, and now effectively out-guns the US in terms of quantity.

But, with its new autonomous robots, the Pentagon says America will be able to “counter [China’s] mass with mass of our own, but ours will be harder to plan for, harder to hit, and harder to beat.”

• The new robots will be “attritable,” meaning they’re cheap enough to be placed at risk and/or replaced if necessary. The plan is to spread them across all US military services in multiple domains, including self-piloting ships and uncrewed aircraft.

🤔 Why now?... Pentagon officials say Russia’s ongoing war in Ukraine has shown that autonomous military robots are ready for real-world deployment, noting the effectiveness of loitering munitions – a form of robot air vehicle – in finding and attacking Russian armored vehicles or artillery.

👀 Looking ahead… While military systems capable of some independent operation have become increasingly common in warfare over the past decade, the scale and scope of the US’ announcement is unprecedented. But more are soon to follow. Many other countries – including China, the UK, India, Iran, Israel, South Korea, Russia and Turkey – are also investing heavily in the production of autonomous robots for future use on the battlefield.