Ministry of Defence
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Will we be able to control the killer robots of tomorrow?
From ship-hunting Tomahawk missiles and sub-spying drone ships to semi-autonomous UAV swarms and situationally-aware reconnaissance robots, the Pentagon has long sought to protect its human forces with the use of robotic weapons. But as these systems gain ever-greater degrees of intelligence and independence, their increasing autonomy has some critics worried that humans are ceding too much power to devices whose decision-making processes we don't fully understand (and which we may not be entirely able to control).
British training 'Xbox generation' soldiers with tweaked games
Austerity means the military can't afford the big-budget training exercises to battle-harden new recruits, so it's relying more on computer simulations. Sadly, Virtual Battlespace 2 can't compete with the Hollywood-style excitement of Modern Warfare. That's why it's buying in game engines from the studios (VB2 was based on tech licensed from the makers of Operation Flashpoint) and cutting out the unrealistic physics -- such as rifle bullets flying three miles and vehicles that don't obey gravity. It's hoped the project will keep the attention of death-match hardened trainees and encourage them to play it in their own time: the team were told that two soldiers learned enough skills to stay alive during combat thanks to marathon sessions in the game. If you've just unwrapped an FPS for the holidays, you can now tell disapproving family members that it's educational.
Britain's Ministry of Defence unveils unmanned Taranis combat aircraft
Well, it looks like Boeing's unmanned Phantom Ray stealth aircraft just got a bit of company courtesy of Britain's Ministry of Defence. It's now unveiled the BAE-built Taranis, which is not just an unmanned aircraft, but an unmanned combat aircraft that promises to be capable of penetrating enemy territory -- as opposed to something like a Predator drone that's only suitable for use if the airspace is under control. As you might expect, complete details on the aircraft are still being kept under wraps, but the MoD says there's "more than a million man hours" behind it, and that its first flight trials will begin early next year. And, no, "unmanned" doesn't mean autonomous -- the MoD is quick to point out that, "should such systems enter into service, they will at all times be under the control of highly trained military crews on the ground." [Thanks, Rob]
UK radar station causing car engine and electrical troubles
If you happen to live in the small village of Trimingham (population 370) on the northeast coast of Norfolk, England and while driving past the Royal Air Force Trimingham radar station your car's engine and lights seem to be cutting out, or your speedometer is spinning out of control like something straight out of the X-Files, you're not hallucinating. According to the BBC, the Ministry of Defence has "admitted that a fault at a radar dome was responsible for causing electrical problems with dozens of cars" and that it "will consider claims for compensation after and inquiry found the radar was 'out of alignment.'" Apparently this isn't a new problem, given that the dome was previously out of alignment from November 2005 until February 2006, but now the MoD is denying that the problem has resurfaced. However, the local mechanic, Neil Crayford, told the BBC that he's "dealt with 30 calls over a couple of months." We wonder if for a few extra hundred quid Mr. Crayford would hack your in-dash display so that you could use that radar signal to monitor maritime activities in the North Sea.[Via Fark]
