Archive for the ‘Iraq War’ Category
War Robots Still in Iraq
Posted on: May 5, 2008
- In: Defense | Iraq War | National | Popular Mechanics | Robots | still | war
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The SWORDS robot, designed by Foster Mills is still deployed in Iraq, but languishes behind sandbags, dreaming of someday getting some battle action. (Source: Wired: Danger Room)
Turns out the little buggers won’t be leaving after all!
After initial reports from Popular Mechanics and other “more reliable” print news sources, that the semi-autonomous SWORDS war-robots were being “yanked” from Iraq due to their accidental targeting of human entities, it turns out that they only got the story half right.
While the robots did indeed get withdrawn from the battlefield, they’re still in Iraq being tested and may be redeployed in the near future. This is much sooner than initial quotes by the program manager, Kevin Fahey, indicated (he previously mentioned as span of 10 years or more before the program would be fully active again in case of such an event). Now, Kevin Fahey states more conservatively, “SWORD is still deployed. We continue to learn from it and will continue to expand the use of armed robots.”
Foster Miller, maker of the SWORD robot, was quick to try to dispel the hype that surrounded the announcement that the robots might be shooting at our soldiers, originally propagated by Popular Mechanics. Said spokeswoman Cynthia Black, “The whole thing is an urban legend.”
Black helpfully provided information on the specific cases in which “uncommanded movement” occurred. She stated, “One case involved a loose wire. So, now there is now redundant wiring on every circuit. One involved a solder, a connection that broke. Everything now is double-soldered.”
The third case had nothing to do with a gun. The robot was placed on a 45 degree incline and left to run for two and a half hours as part of an endurance test. Predictably, the motor burned out and overheated. She states, “When the motor started to overheat, the robot shut the motor off, that caused the robot to slide back down the incline. Those are the three uncommanded movements.”
There does seem to be some confusion between Fahey and Foster Mills, as Fahey was reported as saying the robots recently did something “very bad” (indicating a serious recent failure).
While Black and Fahey fail to mention it, one thing that makes a “killer robot” scenario unlikely is the fact that the robots really are about as green as it comes when it comes to combat. They (by all reports) are not being used very much. Furthermore, they have not notched even one kill of an enemy combatant.
Stew Magnuson, a reporter for National Defense, was at the same news conference as Popular Mechanics, and helped to offer a bit more clarity as to what is really going on. The real scenario he offered is that the robots are languishing in under-deployment to the frustration of Foster Mills and the conference was largely an effort by Foster Mills to express their disappointment in this situation.
Robert Quinn, vice president of Talon operations at Foster-Miller, stated at the news conference that the three robots sent to Iraq were stuck in stationary positions behind sandbags and not out patrolling the streets as its designers planned. Army leadership was fearful the “through an interface” targeting of the robots via human operators in combat situations would produce dangerous results, and thus refused to deploy them.
Quinn complained, “If you have a mobile weapons platform that can’t be mobile, and it becomes nothing more than a fixed position, then why not just put it on a tripod.”
Facts can be funny things.
Over the past several weeks, Sen. John McCain has been occasionally tripping over them in his advocacy for continuing America’s presence in Iraq. Most memorably, he repeated – three times – the assertion that Iran was arming al-Qaeda despite the fact that there is no known connection between country and the group, and that the two are clearly of different religions.
On Sunday, McCain made another Iraq-based claim that is highly debatable if not simply false.
As Think Progress was first to point out, appearing on Fox News Sunday, the Arizona Republican stated that the recent flair up of violence in Basra was ended after Shiite cleric, Muqtada al-Sadr declared a ceasefire. This, he said, was proof that Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki’s government was gaining the upper hand, both militarily and politically.
“It was al-Sadr that declared the ceasefire, not Maliki,” said McCain. “With respect, I don’t think Sadr would have declared the ceasefire if he thought he was winning. Most times in history, military engagements, the winning side doesn’t declare the ceasefire. The second point is, overall, the Iraqi military performed pretty well. … The military is functioning very effectively.”
It is a convenient interpretation for a candidate who later went on to tout the political successes of the American troop surge. But it seems to contradict almost all news accounts from last week. Indeed, it was the Iranian government and members of Maliki’s government who brokered the ceasefire, not Sadr. McClatchy newspapers wrote in its lead paragraph:
“Iraqi lawmakers traveled to the Iranian holy city of Qom over the weekend to win the support of the commander of Iran’s Qods brigades in persuading Shiite cleric Muqtada al Sadr to order his followers to stop military operations.”
Moreover, in the process of fighting Sadr, at least 1,000 of Maliki’s troops deserted the battle. McCain tried to put a good face on this too, by reminding viewers that, slightly more than a year ago that number would have been much higher. But that too ignores the testimony of many Iraq experts who suggest that far from showing the strength of Maliki’s forces, the recent battle in Basra did little but make Sadr stronger. As Jonathan Steele wrote in The Guardian:
“Iraq’s prime minister, Nouri al-Maliki…has emerged with his authority severely weakened. … Meanwhile, Moqtada al-Sadr, the target of the assault, comes out of the crisis strengthened. His militiamen gave no ground and, by declaring a ceasefire that has successfully held since Sunday, Sadr has demonstrated his authority and the discipline of his men.”
Keep reading here and here for HuffPost’s earlier coverage of McCain’s Iraq gaffes.
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