Introduction

War and technological development have been indelibly linked for centuries. Military leaders will constantly seek both the means (weapons) and the methods (tactics) of warfare to maximize their full-spectrum dominance over their adversaries. When assessing the value of emerging weapons technologies, mitigating risk to friendly forces has always been perceived as a key benefit. This aspect of weapons technology is increasingly valued in an era of all volunteer forces and a general perception among strategic decision makers that the public is generally averse to friendly casualties, even when force is employed to achieve vital national or international objectives. At the operational level, all commanders seek to husband resources while achieving precision effects, and, therefore, technologies that facilitate producing such effects with limited risk to friendly forces will be highly coveted.

Willingness to accept mortal risk in pursuit of important objectives is, of course, a core ethos of a professional military. One of the greatest burdens of military command is the authority and responsibility to send subordinates into harm's way to achieve such goals, knowing full well that many may lose their lives or be seriously injured while obeying these orders. Issuing such orders and subjecting subordinates to mortal risk is, however, a key aspect of military command. But when technology can empower a commander to accomplish tactical and operational objectives with little or no risk to friendly forces, it should be self-evident why commanders at all levels covet such options.

However, there have always been inherent limits on the extent to which technology may be used as an effective substitute for human action. To date, these limits have generally focused on the ability to control the effects of a weapon system once employed. Thus, the law prohibits use of such weapons as chemicals and other poison gas, air-delivered incendiaries in populated areas and any other weapons that cannot be directed with any reasonable certainty to strike an intended target. Autonomous weapons – weapons with the capacity to utilize artificial intelligence to replicate human cognitive reasoning – present an entirely new dilemma to the regulation of armed conflict.