Today, the U.S. Navy released this footage of an X-47B unmanned combat drone being lifted onto the U.S.S. Harry Truman aircraft carrier. Remarkably, the X-47B is the first drone that doesn’t require a human to pilot it from the ground–it’s run entirely by a computer algorithm. And while traditional unmanned aircraft are capable of flying for roughly 10 hours at a time, this one can be programmed with a mission of up to 30 hours, then left to do its work until it returns. The drone, which was built by Northrop Grumman under a $635.8 million contract, is theoretically precise enough to land on an aircraft carrier on its own, and while it’s still in an experimental phase, it’s expected to make its first landing next year.
If fully computer-controlled airborne killing machines aren’t a sign of the coming robot apocalypse, I don’t know what is. And I can’t tell whether to be terrified or weirdly impressed. Perhaps the X-47B is the drone TMZ should be going after.
Billion should be million.
Thanks! Fixed.
« The Pentagon wants to make perfectly clear that every time one of its flying robots releases its lethal payload, it’s the result of a decision made by an accountable human being in a lawful [sic] chain of command. » http://www.wired.com/dangerroom/2012/11/human-rob…
Meanwhile:
« The Department of Defense issued a new Directive last week establishing DoD policy for the development and use of autonomous weapons systems.
An autonomous weapon system is defined as “a weapon system that, once activated, can select and engage targets without further intervention by a human operator.”
The new DoD Directive Number 3000.09, dated November 21, establishes guidelines that are intended “to minimize the probability and consequences of failures in autonomous and semi-autonomous weapon systems that could lead to unintended engagements.” » https://www.fas.org/blog/secrecy/2012/11/weapons_…
and the chinense just landed a special design airplane on a carrier.