page_title: Lethal autonomous weapon
section_title: Autonomous offensive systems
hierarchical_section_title: Lethal autonomous weapon / Autonomous offensive systems
caption_attribution_description: English: Serbian Land Rover Defender towing trailer with "Miloš" tracked combat robot on Sloboda 2019 military parade and exercise at "Colonel-pilot Milenko Pavlović" military airport. Српски / srpski: Теренско возило Ленд Ровер Дифендер вуче приколицу са борбеним роботом гусеничаром "Милошем" Војске Србије на свечаном дефилеу након војне вежбе Слобода 2019 на војном аеродрому "Пуковник-пилот Миленко Павловић".
context_page_description: Lethal autonomous weapons are a type of autonomous military system that can independently search for and engage targets based on programmed constraints and descriptions. LAWs are also known as lethal autonomous weapon systems, autonomous weapon systems, robotic weapons, killer robots or slaughterbots. LAWs may operate in the air, on land, on water, under water, or in space. The autonomy of current systems as of 2018 was restricted in the sense that a human gives the final command to attack - though there are exceptions with certain "defensive" systems.
context_section_description: Systems with a higher degree of autonomy would include drones or unmanned combat aerial vehicles, e.g.: "The unarmed BAE Systems Taranis jet-propelled combat drone prototype may lead to a Future Combat Air System that can autonomously search, identify, and locate enemies but can only engage with a target when authorized by mission command. It can also defend itself against enemy aircraft" (Heyns 2013, §45). The Northrop Grumman X-47B drone can take off and land on aircraft carriers (demonstrated in 2014); it is set to be developed into an Unmanned Carrier-Launched Airborne Surveillance and Strike (UCLASS) system.
  According to The Economist, as technology advances, future applications of unmanned undersea vehicles might include mine clearance, mine-laying, anti-submarine sensor networking in contested waters, patrolling with active sonar, resupplying manned submarines, and becoming low-cost missile platforms. In 2018 the U.S. Nuclear Posture Review alleged that Russia is developing a "new intercontinental, nuclear-armed, nuclear-powered, undersea autonomous torpedo" named "Status 6".
  The Russian Federation is actively developing artificially intelligent missiles, drones, unmanned vehicles, military robots and medic robots.
  Israeli Minister Ayoob Kara stated in 2017 that Israel is developing military robots, including ones as small as flies
  In October 2018, Zeng Yi, a senior executive at Chinese Defense Firm Norinco, gave a speech in which he said that “In future battlegrounds, there will be no people fighting,” and that the use of lethal autonomous weapons in warfare is "inevitable." In 2019, US Defense Secretary Mark Esper lashed out at China for selling drones capable of taking life with no human oversight.
  The British Army deployed new unmanned vehicles and military robots in 2019.
  The US Navy is developing "ghost" fleets of unmanned ships.
caption: Serbian Land Rover Defender towing trailer with "Miloš" tracked combat robot.
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