Weapons of Indiscriminate Lethality

Abstract

The development of autonomous robot weapons is well underway for use in a new style of hi-tech warfare. This will lead to less physical risk to the combatants deploying them but greater moral risk. There has been insuffi cient consideration of how these new weapons will impact on innocents. Two of the most serious ethical concerns discussed here are: (i) the inability of robot weapons to discriminate between combatants and non-combatants and (ii) the inability of such robots to ensure a proportionate response in which the military advantage will outweigh civilian casualties.