Brave New Warfare: Autonomy in Lethal UAVs - Arguments For and Against Autonomous Aircraft and UCAVs, Need for Humans or Executive Oversight on Unmanned Platforms, Soldier Protection, Ethical Issues

This excellent report has been professionally converted for accurate flowing-text e-book format reproduction - this is not a print replica, and thus it is suitable for all devices. The Department of Defense (DoD) is making significant strides to develop and deploy unmanned vehicles in a variety of environments. Specifically, the Secretary of the Navy is sponsoring a new program, Consortium for Robotics and Unmanned Systems Education and Research ("CRUSER"), at the Naval Postgraduate School to enhance the ability to address unmanned vehicle research in a systematic manner. The area of research in this thesis strives to position the technological advancements within an ethical framework that will guide the development and use of these technologies. Autonomous platforms may bring significant advantages and enhance our abilities for mission accomplishment. This project concludes that they are best deployed in conventional conflicts, and may have more limited and problematic uses during irregular warfare and COIN operations. Laws pertaining to the deployment of autonomous and unmanned platforms are unclear and need to be strengthened on an international scale. Furthermore, the questions regarding what are permissible uses of autonomous platforms should also include future operators and personnel involved in the acquisition and engineering of these platforms, and should not be left solely in the hands of lawyers and diplomats. The combination of autonomy and lethality is found to work best when limited to the targeting of an enemy's weapons systems and aircraft in highly scripted environments rather than enemy combatants and personnel themselves.

This compilation includes a reproduction of the 2019 Worldwide Threat Assessment of the U.S. Intelligence Community.

I. Introduction * A. Research Questions * B. Significance Of Research * C. Organization And Methodology * II. Remotely Piloted Aircraft * A. Background * B. Moving Forward With Unmanned Platforms * C. Joint Air Doctrine And UAVs * D. Dilemmas With Current UCAVs * III. Autonomy * A. Laws Of Armed Conflict * B. Ethical Considerations * 1. Just War Tradition * 2. Attribution * 3. Arguments for the Introduction of Autonomy * a. Protecting the Lives of American Soldiers * b. Mission Accomplishment and Cost Effectiveness * c. Discrimination and Proportionality * 4. Arguments Against the Introduction of Autonomy * a. The Threshold for the Risk of War and Last Resort * b. Proliferation and Theft * C. Tactical Environments * 1. Conventional * 2. Nonconventional * D. Weapon Considerations * Iv. The Professional Military Ethic * A. How We Conduct Our Wars * B. Moral Disengagement * V. Summary, Conclusions, and Recommendations * A. Summary * B. Conclusions and Recommendations * 1. To What Extent Do Contemporary Understandings of Military Ethics and the LOAC Address Machine Autonomy in Conjunction with the Use of Lethal Force? * a. Conclusion * b. Recommendations * 2. What Permissible Uses of Autonomous UCAVs Might Be Envisioned Within the Present Framework of Warfighting? * a. Conclusion * b. Recommendations * 3. Is It Necessary to Retain a Human Presence, or Executive Oversight, in the UCAV "Kill Chain?" * a. Conclusion * b. Recommendations