Elon Musk has suggested Lockheed Martin’s F-35 Lightning II fighter jets, which are a key part of the Morrison government’s $200 billion investment in defence, would “have no chance” against an autonomous drone in the battlefield.
“The fighter jet era has passed,” Mr Musk said at the US Air Force’s Air Warfare Symposium in Florida.
“Drone warfare is where the future will be. It’s not that I want the future to be this – it’s just, this is what the future will be.”
A group of experts wants to study the brain waves and eye movements of people playing a video game in order to build an advanced AI that could coordinate the actions of military robots.
The US Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, known as DARPA, awarded a team from the University of Buffalo’s Artificial Intelligence Institute a $316,000 grant for the study.
Although swarm robotics is inspired by many things, including ant colonies, researchers believe that humans have a lot of potential to improve AI learning systems. The study of 25 video game players will include real-time strategy games such as StarCraft, Stellaris and Company of Heroes.
The Navy converted manned combat jets into unmanned ones. Nobody had any idea they were doing it.
The U.S. Navy announced that it converted EA-18G Growler electronic attack jets into unmanned vehicles.
In a test, a manned Growler controlled two unmanned Growlers.
The previously unknown test could mean that unmanned Navy warplanes are coming sooner than experts thought.
In a surprise announcement, the U.S. Navy revealed on Tuesday that it had successfully flown tests involving unmanned versions of the EA-18G Growler electronic attack fighter. The tests involved a single manned EA-18G controlling two unmanned versions of the same aircraft, opening up the possibility that the U.S. Navy could fly armed unmanned aircraft sooner than originally thought.
US Air Force F-22s and F-35s will soon launch and control recoverable attack drones from the cockpit of the plane.
Key point: This technology, which hinges upon higher levels of autonomous navigation, brings a wide swath of improved mission possibilities.
US Air Force F-22s and F-35s will soon launch and control recoverable attack drones from the cockpit of the plane to expand air-combat operations, test enemy air defenses, conduct long-range ISR and even deliver weapons.
This fast-approaching technology, which calls upon advanced levels of autonomous navigation, is closer to reality due of DARPA’s Gremlins program which plans to break new ground by launching – and recovering – four drones from an in-flight C-130 next year.
Key point: Armed robots are becoming the norm of future warfare. The question is how long humans will stay in the loop.
An Estonian company has teamed up with a Singaporean firm and joined the expanding global race to develop robotic fighting vehicles.
More and more firms are developing armed unmanned ground vehicles, some as private ventures and others in response to formal government programs. But it’s unclear how quickly armies might actually field meaningful numbers of tank-like ground robots.
News broke in June 2019 that Estonia’s Milrem Robotics and Singapore’s ST Engineering had tested a new UGV. “The companies demonstrated the UGV during a live-fire exercise held in Tapa, Estonia,” Estonian World reported.
“The new UGV is armed with a 40-millimeter automatic grenade launcher and a 12.7-millimeter heavy machine gun,” according to Estonian World.
The Songar drone can accurately hit targets from hundreds of metres away, according to its manufacturer
A drone with a machine gun attached can hit targets with high precision, according to its makers. Turkey is set to become the first country to have the drone, when it gets a delivery this month.
The 25-kilogram drone has eight rotating blades to get it in the air. Its machine gun carries 200 rounds of ammunition and can fire single shots or 15-round bursts.
Drones can be used for some very nefarious activities. For this reason, armies and law enforcement need some effective means of countering them.
Drones are, frankly, awesome. But there are some bad actors who could use them for nefarious activities.
For these reasons, many companies around the world, including engineering-giants like Boeing and Lockheed Martin, are producing anti-drone weapons to counter the potential threats drones can offer.
A Ghost Robotics’ Vision 60 quadruped robot supports the soldiers of the Australian Army during an autonomous systems demonstration at the Majura Training Area, Canberra.
What could possibly go wrong?
The same week the latest movie in the Terminator franchise hit theatres, an Australian Defence Force publication ran photos of a prototype Ghost Robotics Vision 60 quadruped robot “supporting” Australian Army soldiers during an autonomous systems demonstration at the Majura Training Area, Canberra on November 8.
At 6:43 am US eastern time today, the Air Force’s mysterious X-37B space plane broke a new spaceflight record, surpassing the 717 days, 20 hours and 42 minutes its predecessor spent in orbit just a couple years prior.
The X-37B, explained: The Air Force is notoriously tightlipped about the X-37B program. The space plane itself, built by Boeing, is 29 feet long and 9.6 feet tall, boasting a wingspan of nearly 15 feet. It’s launched vertically aboard a rocket and lands horizontally on a runway. The current X-37B mission is the fifth of its kind (Orbital Test Vehicle 5 – OTV-5) and was launched in September 2017 by a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket.
The one-time use drones can carry more than 1,000 pounds of supplies.
The US military is testing delivery drones that can transport supplies over long distances and be thrown away after each use. Made of cheap plywood, the bigger version of the two gliders being tested can carry over 700 kilograms, or roughly 1800 pounds. As reported in IEE Spectrum, the scientists at Logistic Gliders, Inc. revealed that their gliders just successfully completed a series of tests with US Marines. If cleared for mass production, the LG-1K and its bigger counterpart, the LG-2K, could cost as little as a few hundred dollars each.
Using unmanned aircraft for delivery is an idea both the military and private sector have explored for years. Traditional aircraft guzzle fuel, cost money to purchase and maintain and require a human pilot. An unmanned aerial device doesn’t require any of these things. Companies like Amazon flirted with the idea of using drones to speed up package delivery, but couldn’t overcome logistical hurdles. While far away from being suitable for civilian use, these latest delivery gliders may be a step in the right direction.
