Peter W. Singer/Wired For War at The Complex Terrain Lab

[SWJED]

Frakin’ Cool and Winning Wars (SWJ Book Review)
by Robert L. Goldich

Frakin’ Cool and Winning Wars (Full PDF Article)

After Operation Desert Storm in 1991, there was a fusillade of remarks about how American technological superiority was the decisive factor in how we won the war. General H. Norman Schwarzkopf would have none of this. He stated that although our weapons and equipment were indeed technologically superior to those of the Iraqis, we would have won the war if we had had their equipment, and they had had ours. P.W. Singer would have done well to ponder this remark at some point in the researching and writing of Wired for War.

[William F. Owen]

As the Middle East Editor of Unmanned Vehicles, the premier journal in the field, for which Pete Singer provided an article, I will follow this with some interest.

Personally, I just don't see the complexity in applying robotics to war. The problem tends to be more ignorance and aspiration based. The operational problems are generally solvable (as I have said in print) given simple and robust conceptual guidance, which we are not currently short of.

Ground crawling robots proved decisive in very obvious ways during Cast Lead

[Mike Innes]

Bill, do you have a direct URL for Singer's article in Unmanned Vehicles? I can add it to the list of reference material we're compiling at CTlab.

[William F. Owen]

Bill, do you have a direct URL for Singer's article in Unmanned Vehicles? I can add it to the list of reference material we're compiling at CTlab.

Sorry, there is no Online Edition.

[Bill Moore]

Mike,

Are you going to discuss the impact of robotics when our enemies start using this technology against us? Bill

[Mike Innes]

Hi Bill. An important point. If participants don't bring it up, I'll be sure to moderate it into the discussion. Thanks for suggesting it.

Mike

[John T. Fishel]

certainly explicit in Singer's writing. And if we have the technology others do too, or will soon get it. Of course, it will migrate to our enemies as well as our friends. Such is the inevitable course of technological innovation. For its implications, we'll see what we all say in the symposium.

Hat tip to you Bill

Cheers

JohnT

[ODB]

Mike,

Are you going to discuss the impact of robotics when our enemies start using this technology against us? Bill

What happens when our enemies hack our systems and take control of our unmanned assets? If nothing else see what we are seeing? Imagine losing a number of Predators to hackers. Not sure if this is what you were talking about Bill, or if they just simple develop their own technology to counter ours?