nuclear-news

Year of the drone — how the hi-tech weapon has transformed warfare

The Times, Michael Clarke, 23 Dec 23

“Sixth-generation airpower involves the integration of many systems of information, tactics, weapons and decisions. It’s about AI, robotics and the autonomy we will grant to the robots. The aircraft that flies in the midst of all this is no longer the key component. Instead the massive Tempest IT system will come first; the physical fighter plane will be designed around its needs.”

Sixth Generation Warfare…New ways to kill that militaries are salivating over…brought to all living beings by tech and AI. Drones, autonomous weapons, AI facilitated/controlled swarms.

Excerpts:

“Combat aircraft still vie for superiority as they operate and fight at 20,000, 30,000 or 40,000ft. But down at 5,000ft, the airspace now belongs to the drones. It has become the new spatial domain of modern warfare.”

“Drones can attack, they can look and listen, they can report back, they can stick around. Or they can just intimidate troops on the ground by creating the dreaded buzzing overhead.

And this is where the 5,000ft air domain is about to become really revolutionary. The thousands of drones now operating are mainly controlled individually. But they are on the cusp of becoming part of an artificial intelligence world where their diverse functions can be integrated, and their prodigious numbers, plus the immediacy of their operations, makes them prime candidates as autonomous weapons systems — making their own combat decisions as they see the battlefield developing rapidly below them.”

“In this way, drones are all part of the AI revolution that is happening at the top of the airpower domain — up at the 30,000 and 40,000ft levels. ‘Sixth-generation’ airpower, due to be with us by the 2030s, will use advanced robotics and AI to produce aircraft that can either be piloted or left to fly and fight for themselves.”

“A single piloted aircraft in this sixth-generation conception could become an organic air wing of its own. But it will only work with advanced AI to integrate the massive information flows it will all require. And it implies a lot of system autonomy for the robotic units. A pilot will still be legally and morally responsible for what all of his or her aircraft get up to, but robotic Tempests and their accompanying drone swarms will be making a lot of their own immediate battle decisions. And the same will be true in sixth-generation maritime warfare — lots of vessels, only some of them crewed and fought like normal warships.”

“Sixth-generation airpower involves the integration of many systems of information, tactics, weapons and decisions. It’s about AI, robotics and the autonomy we will grant to the robots. The aircraft that flies in the midst of all this is no longer the key component. Instead the massive Tempest IT system will come first; the physical fighter plane will be designed around its needs.”

https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/06d32bdf-9328-47ff-bdd0-dec1f5142455?shareToken=58e0d9865395766b8ed3462d463fbe62″”

December 28, 2023 - Posted by Christina Macpherson | weapons and war