Killer Robots Lethal Autonomous Weapon Systems Legal, Ethical and Moral Challenges

Lethal Autonomous Weapon Systems

Wg Cdr (Dr) U C Jha (Retd)

KILLER ROBOTS Lethal Autonomous Weapon Systems Legal, Ethical and Moral Challenges

KILLER ROBOTS Lethal Autonomous Weapon Systems Legal, Ethical and Moral Challenges

by Wing Commander (Dr) U C Jha

Vij Books India Pvt Ltd New Delhi (India)

Published by

Vij Books India Pvt Ltd

(Publishers, Distributors & Importers) 2/19, Ansari Road Delhi – 110 002 Phones: 91-11-43596460, 91-11-47340674 Fax: 91-11-47340674 e-mail: [email protected]

Copyright © 2016, Dr. U C Jha ISBN

: 9789385563683 (Paperback)

All rights reserved.

No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, transmitted or utilised in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without the prior permission of the copyright owner. Application for such permission should be addressed to the publisher.

The views expressed in the book are of the author and not necessarily those of the publishers.

Contents

Preface

vii

List of Abbreviations

ix

Chapters I

Introduction

1

II

Lethal Autonomous Weapon Systems: Definition

13

III

Autonomous Weapons in Use

30

IV

Lethal Autonomous Weapon Systems (LAWS) and International Law

69

1. Compliance with International Humanitarian Law 69 2. Violation of International Human Rights Law

86

V

LAWS: Ethical and Moral Issues

105

VI

LAWS: Legal Review

122

VII

LAWS: International Concerns

148

VIII

Conclusion and the Way Ahead

177

Appendices A

Relevant International Humanitarian Law Provisions

195

B

Model CCW Protocol for Regulation of LAWS

212

Bibliography

215

Source of Photographs

242

Index

243

Preface

Killer robots or lethal autonomous weapon systems (LAWS) may in the not-so-distant future be able to select targets and use lethal force without human intervention. Though LAWS in the true sense are not yet available, at least 44 countries, including China, France, Germany, India, Israel, South Korea, Russia, the UK and the United States, are developing such capabilities. The existing weapons that could be categorized as autonomous are used only in conflict zones and the types of targets they can attack, and the circumstances in which they are used are pre-determined. In contrast to LAWS, the existing autonomous weapon systems are overseen in realtime by a human operator. The proponents of LAWS argue that such systems would be capable of meeting the laws of war or international humanitarian law (IHL) standards. Those against the development of LAWS argue that such weapons would violate the basic principles of IHL and threaten the right to life and principle of preserving human dignity. The proliferation of LAWS could have a destabilizing effect on international security. They could also fall into the hands of non-state actors. To say that future LAWS would be more accurate, IHL abiding and reduce the suffering of those out of armed conflict seems like wishful thinking when one considers the fact that the use of the most advanced weaponry in the conflict in Syria has not reduced the suffering of innocent civilians. Once available in the military arsenal, LAWS would be perfect tools of repression in the hands of a few developed States. In July 2015, nearly 1,000 eminent scientists, robotic professionals, and international law experts released a statement promoting a ban

Killer Robots

on LAWS. A number of states, prominent world leaders, the SecretaryGeneral of the United Nations, and the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) have expressed serious concerns about the development of LAWS. Diplomats and experts held discussions on the legality of LAWS at the Palais des Nations in Geneva in April 2016. The International Committee for Robot Arms Control (ICRAC) has urged the international community to seriously consider the prohibition of autonomous weapons systems in the light of the dangers they pose to global peace and security. The Human Rights Watch and Harvard Law School’s International Human Rights Clinic have also urged the states to ban such weapons over which humans have no control. The present work offers an overview of the existing autonomous weapons. It evaluates the moral and legal issues relating to the development and the deployment of LAWS in armed conflict and analyses international concerns over such a possibility. It also makes recommendations for a preemptive ban on the development of such weapons. The work would be successful if it contributes to a better understanding of the consequences of the development of LAWS and hence, the need for a pre-emptive ban because once such weapons are inducted, the States would be unwilling to discard them. I am thankful to my wife, Ratna for her constant support, and to Medha Dubey and Chandana Banerjee for editorial assistance. This book would not have been possible without the cooperation of Brigadier P K Vij (Retd) who was instrumental in its publication. — U C Jha

~ viii ~

List of Abbreviations

AAR

Autonomous Aerial Refuelling

A-CTUV

Anti-Submarine Warfare (AWS) Continuous Trail Unmanned Vessel

ADF

Australian Defence Force

AP

Additional Protocol

ATT

Arms Trade Treaty

AWS

Autonomous Weapons Systems

CCW

UN Convention on Prohibitions or Restrictions on the Use of Certain Conventional Weapons

DARPA

Defence Advanced Research Projects Agency

DMZ

Demilitarized Zone

DoS

Denial of Service

DRDO

Defence Research and Development Organization

EOD

Explosive Ordnance Disposal

ERW

Explosive Remnants of War

FLIR

Forward-Looking InfraRed

GC

Geneva Convention

HMMWV

High-Mobility, Multipurpose Wheeled Vehicle

HRC

Human Rights Committee

IAI

Israel Aerospace Industries Limited

ICC

International Criminal Court

ICJ

International Court of Justice

ICCPR

International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights ~ ix ~

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ICRAC

International Committee for Robot Arms Control

ICRC

International Committee of the Red Cross

IED

Improvised Explosive Devices

IHL

International Humanitarian Law

ISR

Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance

LAR

Lethal Autonomous Robot

LAWS

Lethal Autonomous Weapon Systems

LDUUV

Large Displacement Unmanned Undersea Vehicle

LOAC

Law of Armed Conflict

LOCAAS

Low Cost Autonomous Ammunition System

LRASM

Long-Range Anti-Ship Missile

LS3

Legged Squat Support System

MAARS

Modular Advanced Armed Robotic System

MHC

Meaningful Human Control

NGO

Non-governmental organization

PRIO

Peace Research Institute Oslo

ROE

Rules of Engagement

SAWS

Semi-autonomous Weapon Systems

SIPRI

Stockholm International Peace Research Institute

SWORDS

Special Weapons Observation Remote Direct-Action System

TRADOC

The US Army’s Training and Doctrine Command

TUGV

Tactical Unmanned Ground Vehicle

UAS

Unmanned aircraft systems

UAV

Unmanned Aerial Vehicle

UCAV

Unmanned Combat Aerial Vehicle

UGS

Unmanned Ground System

UGV

Unmanned Ground Vehicle

UMS

Unmanned System

UN

United Nations ~x~

Abbreviations

UNIDIR

United Nations Institute for Disarmament Research

UNHRC

UN Human Rights Council

UNROCA

UN Register of Conventional Arms

UNSC UN

Security Council

USDoD

United States Department of Defence

USV

Unmanned Surface Vehicle

USSV

Unmanned Surface Sea Vehicle

UUV

Unmanned Underwater Vehicle

UV

Unmanned Vehicle

~ xi ~

I

Introduction

I

magine a Robotic-Sepoy1 (Roby) monitoring the movement of the enemy from across the international border. Roby is five feet tall, can travel 5 km an hour, weighs 450 kg and can spin on a dime. It has been programmed to select and engage targets without intervention by a human operator. Roby can track multiple moving targets using IR and visible light cameras and ‘see’ up to a distance of 2000 metres at night, give a warning to an intruder and if not obeyed, fire a lethal shot with a deadly accuracy when the intruder is within a range of 250-300 metres. It can also jam radios and cell phones nearby. Roby is not alone; it is one of the many armed robots positioned at the international border to serve as the first line of defence. Roby is an autonomous weapon system. It is unaffected by the emotions and stress that cause soldiers to overreact or deliberately disobey rules of engagement and commit war crimes. Roby will be on duty for 24 hours, 365 days under all weather conditions. It will not ask for any leave, not go to sleep and not require food. It will only require regular charging and if nuclear-powered, it would remain active for years without any recharge. It will also not require any expenditure on healthcare, accommodation, or entertainment, nor will it ask for pension on retirement. What is more, it will not pose disciplinary problems such as desertion, disobedience and fratricide. In a number of countries, militaries are planning for a day when sentry robots like Roby will stand guard at borders, ready to identify the enemy and kill them, without an order from a human soldier.

~1~

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Evolution of Robotics Though man has been obsessed with robots2 or automation for a long time, the large-scale use of robots has become possible only recently with progress in areas such as computation, data storage, the Internet, wireless communication, electronics and design and manufacturing tools.3 Today, robotic functions are a part of many household equipment or gadgets used for cleaning, mowing the lawn, cooking, serving, counting, and nursing patients. High-end cars have various features for autonomous functions such as anti-lock brakes, traction and stability control, power steering, emergency seat belt retractors, mechanism for avoiding collisions, and air bags. Several manufacturers and research organizations have even produced robotic or driverless cars and these are being tested in many countries. Google’s self-driving car, for example, had driven close to two million miles with only 11 minor accidents, most of them caused by human errors.4 In the wake of anthrax scares, robots are increasingly being used in postal sorting applications. The US postal service has estimated that it has the potential to use up to 80,000 robots for sorting. In the industrial sector, robotic machines are being used to carry out various tasks that were earlier performed by people.5 In military aircraft, automatic ground collision avoidance systems can take control of a humanpiloted aircraft if a pilot becomes disoriented. Commercial airliners have a high degree of automation for every phase of a flight. We are now poised to have robots fight for us. When the US forces went into Iraq in 1991, there were no robotic systems on the ground. By the end of 2004, there were 150 robots on the ground in Iraq; a year later there were 2,400; and by the end of 2008, there were about 12,000 robots of nearly two dozen varieties. Autonomous robots have also been deployed at the Israeli-Palestinian border and the Korean Demilitarized Zone. In Iraq and Afghanistan, robots were deployed mainly in dull, dirty or dangerous tasks such as disrupting or exploding improvised explosive devices and surveillance in dangerous areas such as caves. The vast majority of the US ground robots were used to explode improvised explosive devices. Currently, a human operator remains in the loop for decision-making regarding the deployment of lethal force; however, future systems are likely to be completely autonomous. They may be land-based or air-based and may operate on or under the surface of water. Autonomous systems are ~2~

Introduction

also being designed to carry load for soldiers travelling on foot in extreme terrain and to rescue the wounded.

Robotic Weapon Systems A few countries have already produced and deployed autonomous military systems. The Israel Aerospace Industries Limited (IAI) has produced the operational autonomous weapon Harpy, which is a lethal anti-radar attack system. It loiters over the battlefield, detects and identifies radar emitters, and flies into targets to destroy them. The US Navy’s MK 15 Phalanx Close-In Weapons System is capable of autonomously performing search, detection, evaluation, track, engage and kill functions. The US Navy’s X-47B is a fully autonomous aircraft that has been successfully launched from and landed on an undocked aircraft carrier. It is currently unarmed; its design enables it to support up to a 4,500-pound payload in its twin internal weapons bays. For the US, a robot is a cheaper option than a soldier. A soldier costs the US about $4 million during his/her lifetime. A robot would cost less than 10 per cent of that and a robot can be scrapped when it is damaged or obsolete.6 South Korea has deployed the SGR-A1 in the Korean Demilitarized Zone. This land-based system is designed to select and track targets automatically and is capable of making the decision to fire at a target, completely independent of human input. The UK has developed the Taranis aircraft, which is capable of autonomous flight, but it has not yet been weaponized. The British Parliament has announced that the UK is not developing and will not be using fully autonomous weapon systems. The Indian Defence Research and Development Organization (DRDO) has indicated that it is in the process of developing robotic soldiers and mules for the armed forces. It is very likely that lethal autonomous weapon systems (LAWS) developed in the next two decades will have the capability to hunt, identify, authenticate and possibly kill a target without a human in the decision loop. Lethal robots could also be used as force multipliers in the battlefield. It is claimed by the proponents of such weapon systems that they would be capable of adhering to the rules of international humanitarian law (IHL) and would, in fact, perform more ethically than soldiers in the battlefield.7

~3~

About the Book Nearly 45 countries are at different stages of developing robotic weapons or lethal autonomous weapon systems (LAWS). The United States, for example, has recently test launched its robotic vessel Sea Hunter, a selfdriving, 132-foot ship designed to travel thousands of miles without a single crew member on board. As reported, the vessel has the capability to detect and destroy stealth diesel-electric submarines and sea mines. However, though the militaries of the developed countries are in a race to develop LAWS to perform varied functions on the battlefield, a large section of robotic engineers, ethical analysts, and legal experts are of the firm belief that robotic weapons will never meet the standards of distinction and proportionality required by the laws of war, and therefore will be illegal. This book provides an insight into lethal autonomous weapon systems and debates whether it would be morally correct to give machines the power to decide who lives and who dies on the battlefield. About the Author Dr U C Jha is an independent researcher. He has an extensive academic experience in the fields of military law, international humanitarian law and human rights laws. He has been teaching these subjects for more than a decade and is a resource person for the United Service Institution of India, New Delhi. He has served in the Indian Air Force for 24 years. He obtained a Ph D degree in Law and Governance from Jawaharlal Nehru University, where his dissertation was on the Indian Military Justice System. He also holds master's degree in law, life sciences, business administration, and defence and strategic studies; with post-graduate diplomas in environmental laws, intellectual property laws, and international humanitarian law, refugee law and human rights laws. VIJ BOOKS INDIA PVT LTD ` 900/-

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