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‘Terminator’ Robots Armed in Iraq

See also: ‘Terminator’ Robots Armed in America?

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‘SWORDS’ robot juxtaposed with a T105 from Terminator 3

U.S. Army deploys (SWORDS) robots in Iraq; requests 80 more

Stew Magnuson reports the the upcoming September edition of National Defense Magazine that the U.S. Army has “entered a new era” by deploying radio-controlled armed robots in Iraq this summer.

According to Foster-Miller, Inc, a technology and product development company,

TALON SWORDS robots can be configured with M240 or M249 machine guns or Barrett .50 caliber rifles for armed reconnaissance missions. The system was evaluated by the 5th Special Forces in Iraq and three systems have completed evaluation with the 3rd Infantry Division and will likely deploy to Iraq in 2007. Additional systems are deployed and being evaluated by military units throughout the United States. Alternative weapons, including 40 mm grenade launchers and anti-tank rocket launchers, continue to be evaluated by the U.S. Army.

Three of the special weapons observation remote reconnaissance (SWORDS) robots are currently reported in Iraq with 80 more requested but not yet funded.

Speaking to National Defense on a topic other than forced acronyms, SWORDS program manager stated:

“As [soldiers] use them and like them, I’ve heard positive feedback, they want 20 more immediately. It’s a shame we can’t get them to them”

SWORDS is designed to take on “high risk combat missions,” according to an Army statement. A specialist controlling the robot could send it into a potentially dangerous situation, such as a narrow street infested with snipers, seek targets and take them out before a foot patrol follows.

But are they safe?

Originally designed for bomb-disposal, these remote control robots have been revamped to tote M249 rifles with an optimal Cyclic rate of 650 to 850 rounds per minute.

That’s a lot of bullets for a machine played like a video game and a history of safety concerns.

Noah Shachtman’s March 08, 2007 Wired article asks the question, are machine gun mounted ground robots ’safe enough for war?’

The military certainly thinks so:

“Anytime you utilize technology to take a U.S. service member out of harm’s way, it is worth every penny,” said John Saitta, a consultant with Smart Business Advisory and Consulting and a major in the Marine Corps reserves, who has been trained as a weapons and tactic instructor.

What about the human element and human cost of war?

With the military and White House thwarting efforts to expose the negative impact of Iraq, it is easy to see how Americans could become desensitized to the daily killings and atrocities of war.

While these robots would certainly help keep our beloved armed service members further out of harm’s way, one wonders if further separation of people from the killing they produce helps sanitize their actions?

Will a soldier be more or less apt to fire on another person if he or she pulls the trigger via remote control? Will Iraq be safer with radio-controlled robots patrolling the streets? Will 80 more SWORDS help America win the peace?

Hopefully they will keep Americans and Iraqis safer.

The general manager of TALON robots at Foster-Miller explains in the demonstration video below:

“A soldier can drive his weapon remotely up to 800 to 1000 meters away, and be able to fire his weapon from the safe distance of obscurity”

Further in the video, Sgt. Dave Platt makes a disturbing comment:

One of the things we have try and teach the soliders is this is not a toy. There is a weapon involved on the system. It’s a lethal option. It is what it is. It’s a machine gun; it’s no joke.

Soldiers really have to be taught a mounted machine gun is not a toy or a joke? Frightening.

Let’s hope this new breed of killing machines keeps everyone safer. But the question lingers, what would happen if America could only spend as much on the military as we do on diplomacy?

Diplomacy aside, if additional SWORDS funding goes through, the future certainly looks bright for our armed forces.

More: Robots considered a “threat to humanity”

• ‘Terminator’ Robots Armed in America? Update
• Iraq War: Why Defunding is Politically Viable

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