US Military Preparing Unmanned, Robotic Systems Doctrine

The US military is preparing the first draft of a doctrine regulating the development and use of robotic and unmanned systems on the battlefield, the Defense News website reported.

MOSCOW (Sputnik) — The United States started to develop a unified strategy, fearing its enemies could deploy robots alongside soldiers first.

"In the end, we want to prevent our enemies from leaping ahead of us," Lt. Col. Matt Dooley, lethality branch chief at the Army Capabilities Integration Center (ARCIC), said on Wednesday as quoted by the website.

According to Defense News, the United States is considering robots for supply convoys, tactical reconnaissance and as robotic wingmen for soldiers on foot.

"There is a risk associated with investing a lot of money and a risk to not doing anything. We have to acknowledge conditions on the battlefield in 2025 will include robotics whether we invest in it or not."

The official pointed out that there was no intention to create a lethal autonomous function at the moment.

"We're not going to leave those types of decisions to a robot," he said.

On Thursday, a joint report by Human Rights Watch and Harvard Law School’s International Human Rights Clinic called on the international community to ban the development, production, and use of fully autonomous weapons, or "killer robots."

The US army actively uses semi-autonomous systems in its military operations around the globe. The United States has carried out more than 500 lethal live-fire drone strikes since 2001, killing an estimated 3,674 militants and 473 civilians, according to the US Council on Foreign Relations.