Future drone wars

Future wars will be won by nations with the most effective drones. This is a statement, and a really serious one, made by none other than tech billionaire Elon Musk. But, even before him, US defence secretary Kathleen Hicks had even announced a few months ago that the next phase of drone warfare was already here. Calling it a “game-changing shift” in global security, Hicks had also clearly indicated that an effort to dramatically scale up the United States’ use of artificial intelligence on the battlefield had already begun. But if that is so, then India too has not been sitting idle. Given the fact that rapid advances in artificial intelligence (AI) are giving rise to a new generation of lethal autonomous weapons systems (LAWS) that can identify, track, and attack targets without human intervention, India is actually gearing up, and rightfully so. It was in the Russia-Ukraine War that drones with autonomous capabilities and AI-enabled munitions were already used on the battlefield. From “killer algorithms” that select targets based on certain characteristics to autonomous drone swarms, the future of warfare looks increasingly apocalyptic. The most significant news in this area is that the Indian Army has in the meantime received the first batch of ‘suicide drones’, which incidentally has been christened as ‘Nagastra-1’—something’ that can strike enemy training camps and launch pads in border areas with precision and save the lives of soldiers. This is particularly significant in the backdrop of India having at least two not-so-friendly neighbours who have been in the habit of creating one trouble or the other just for the heck of it. In this context, it is also pertinent to note that human-centred, or “responsible AI,” as the US prefers to call it, is designed to keep a human “in the loop” in decision-making in order to ensure that AI is used in “lawful, ethical, responsible, and accountable ways.” But even with human oversight and strict compliance with the law, there is a growing risk that AI will be used in ways that fundamentally violate international humanitarian law and international human rights law. As has been reported by this newspaper in its Sunday edition, these high-tech drones have been manufactured in India by Economic Explosives Limited (EEL), a subsidiary of Solar Industries in Nagpur. The Army had placed an order for 480 such drones, and at least 120 of them have reportedly been delivered. The Modi government can take credit for these indigenously developed drones, which offer more selective targeting as the attack can be changed mid-flight or even aborted. In ‘kamikaze mode’, the drone can also neutralise any threat with a GPS-enabled precision strike with an accuracy of two metres. Not bad.