Home | Databases | WorldLII | Search | Feedback Edited Legal Collections Data

Henderson, Ian S.; Keane, Patrick; Liddy, Josh --- "Remote and autonomous warfare systems: precautions in attack and individual accountability" [2017] ELECD 1280; in Ohlin, David Jens (ed), "Research Handbook on Remote Warfare" (Edward Elgar Publishing, 2017) 335

Book Title: Research Handbook on Remote Warfare

Editor(s): Ohlin, David Jens

Publisher: Edward Elgar Publishing

ISBN (hard cover): 9781784716981

Section: Chapter 11

Section Title: Remote and autonomous warfare systems: precautions in attack and individual accountability

Author(s): Henderson, Ian S.; Keane, Patrick; Liddy, Josh

Number of pages: 36

Abstract/Description:

The long and tragic history of human warfare manifests an endless quest for more effective ways to conduct attacks and defeat adversaries. This has in turn driven innovation in means and methods of defence against attacks. Remote warfare exemplifies both streams of development. The ability to conduct effective attacks at great distance from your own forces is a significant advantage in attack. Similarly, the ability to distance military personnel from the effective range of enemy weapons is a significant advantage in defence. Military forces have sought these advantages since time immemorial. In medieval times, heavily armoured knights were a powerful force on the battlefield. With their speed, mobility and heavy armour they could wreak havoc among the foot soldiers with relative impunity. However, developments in projectile weapons, and in particular the development and proliferation of gunpowder, contributed to ending the superiority of the mounted knight. It allowed combatants with far less training and equipment to apply force remotely, at a distance where the weapons of the knights were ineffective. The development of weapons to apply force at ever greater distances has continued down the centuries. From the early firearms that ended the reign of armoured knights through to intercontinental ballistic missiles, humankind has employed great ingenuity in developing means of warfare to attack adversaries remotely. Modern remote weapon systems, including vehicles that can be operated remotely, are but the latest element in this continuum of development.