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News | Nov. 2, 2023

Autonomous Weapons are the Moral Choice

By Thomas X. Hammes The Atlantic Council

An MQ-9 sits on the flightline.
An MQ-9 Reaper is parked on the flight line before making history at Creech Air Force Base, Nevada, Feb. 26, 2021. The 556th Test and Evaluation Squadron successfully performed the first Air Combat Command test of an automatic takeoff and landing at Creech AFB. (U.S. Air Force photo by Staff Sgt. Omari Bernard)
An MQ-9 sits on the flightline.
556th TES successfully launch, land first Creech AFB ATLC test
An MQ-9 Reaper is parked on the flight line before making history at Creech Air Force Base, Nevada, Feb. 26, 2021. The 556th Test and Evaluation Squadron successfully performed the first Air Combat Command test of an automatic takeoff and landing at Creech AFB. (U.S. Air Force photo by Staff Sgt. Omari Bernard)
Photo By: Staff Sgt. Omari Bernard
VIRIN: 210225-F-ZC102-1004

To succeed in the battlespace, the United States must field autonomous weapons. This is the argument Deputy Secretary of Defense Katherine Hicks made in a speech on August 28:

 

“To stay ahead, we’re going to create a new state of the art—just as America has before—leveraging attritable, autonomous systems in all domains—which are less expensive, put fewer people in the line of fire, and can be changed, updated, or improved with substantially shorter lead times.”

 

Many defense professionals are largely in agreement with this statement, but there remains a significant anti-autonomy coalition that continues to argue that the use of lethal autonomous weapon systems (LAWS)—particularly drones—is immoral. From “slaughterbots” videos intended to inflame public fear to international conferences, these groups have argued strenuously that LAWS are simply not acceptable to a moral nation. 

These groups are wrong. Indeed, it is morally imperative for the United States and other democratic nations to develop, field, and, if necessary, use autonomous weapons. 

Read the rest at the Atlantic Council here. 

Dr. T.X. Hammes is a Distinguished Research Fellow at the Institute for National Strategic Studies, Center for Strategic Research at National Defense University. The views expressed are his own and do not reflect those of the National Defense University or the Department of Defense.