One and more “kamikaze drones” that use artificial intelligence to identify and eliminate targets without requiring human control are reported in the ongoing conflict in Ukraine. It is the first time that similar devices have been used massively, and it marks a point of no return.
Russian kamikaze drone: KUB-BLA
On Telegram, the Ukrainian interior minister Anton Gerashchenko posted a photo of the KUB-BLA kamikaze drone. The aircraft, about two meters long, is manufactured by ZALA Aero, a subsidiary of the famous Russian weapons manufacturer Kalashnikov. After being fired from a portable launcher, the KUB-BLA can patrol a target area for about 30 minutes, flying at speeds of about 130 kilometers per hour (80 mph).
The robot is programmed to seek and destroy an enemy target. When the target is identified, the kamikaze drone deliberately crashes into it, causing its 3kg (seven pounds) explosive load to explode.
In a 2019 demonstration, the company demonstrated its intelligent detection and real-time object identification capabilities.
A similar drone, second a United Nations report published last year, it may have been used by Turkey to “search and kill” troops on the ground in Libya's civil war. Vladimir Putin himself had called for a ban on these weapons, which today also appear to be used by the Russian army.
US kamikaze drone: Switchblade
The sending of a similar autonomous aircraft to the Ukrainian army is also being discussed, as part of the new 800 million dollar military aid package announced by American President Joe Biden. This time it is the kamikaze drone produced by AeroVironment and called Switchblade (“jackknife”).
Switchblades are tiny kamikaze drones with a wingspan of just 60 centimeters (two feet) that can strike at long distances. The drone is launched from the ground and unfolds its wings to go towards its target, equipped with a piloting system that allows it to follow its moving "prey" thanks to artificial intelligence.
It fits in a backpack and costs only $ 6.000. Army officials described it almost like a flying rifle.
Mass extermination becomes economic
Giving computers the power to make this decision raises fair concerns among experts. “Using technology to give robots the authority to determine who lives and dies on the battlefront would be a step too far,” he warns Steve Goose by Human Rights Watch.
Human control of robotic warfare is essential to minimize civilian deaths and injuries
The use of kamikaze drones in a war zone is a development of no return in warfare and makes the number of casualties potentially gigantic. The use of a killer robot (in which artificial intelligence is fused with weapons) shows that the technology is here and is being used: in the fury of a war and with the cynicism of those who make, sell and "test" on human flesh these armaments.
“Autonomous weapons would lack the human judgment necessary to assess the proportionality of an attack, distinguish civilians from combatants, and comply with other fundamental laws of war,” said a representative of the Stop Killer Robots Coalition.
Max Tegmark, an MIT professor, opposed the use of fully autonomous weapons. Unless it comes implemented a worldwide ban, he warned that advances and application of the technology will continue to be used.
