The limits of robotic solutions to human challenges in the land domain

Abstract

In the face of rapid technological change and the creation of ambitious military modernisation programmes, this paper argues that land forces, in managing the relationship between force levels and the adoption of military robotics, must recognise that there are inherent limits to techno-centric force reduction efforts and realise the inefficacy of substituting skilled soldiers with robots. It begins with an overview of how the proper integration of robotics into a military’s force structure can improve capability, save lives and potentially reduce costs, but suggests that common accounts of robot utility are exaggerated and endanger the risk assessment processes governing the adoption of said technologies and relevant personnel settings. The paper explores the limits of robotic solutions to military problems, discussing their technical limitations, redundancy and related issues that, when combined with a technico-moral skills degradation problem also detailed within, point to the need to reshape force structures to suit the adoption of robotics while preserving existing levels of human staffing.

Keywords:

• Robotics
• drones
• modernisation
• strategy
• personnel policy

Notes

1. This is evidenced by direct statements from senior military-political leaders and relevant annual statements, reports and inquiries detailing future troop strength, budgetary measures and technology adoption plans. See, for instance, Oostendarp (2012), McLeary (2014), Hughes (2015) and United States Department of Defense (2009, 2011, 2013).

2. There are, of course, plenty of present day examples of inhumane soldiering that, while beyond the pale for liberal democracies, serve as a possible counter-argument to the implicit chain of humanity here implied. I thank an anonymous reviewer for raising this point. However, the claim is merely that when armies eventually have to put “men in the mud”, to use Fehrenbach’s expression, it is important that they have developed the appropriate moral decision-making skills. Cultivating these skills is made more difficult when action is technologically mediated, by virtue of the fact that sensors cannot necessarily transmit all morally relevant information, and are best acquired via actual deployments.

3. Thanks to Al Palazzo for raising this point.