Iraq - The Video Game

Starting this spring, the Defense Department is sending a robot into combat. Its name is SWORDS - short for Special Weapons Observation Reconnaissance Detection System. According to the BBC, starting in April, the US is shipping over 18 of the units which cost $230,000 a piece (that is for the base platform as weapons mount and weapons are sold separately). SWORDS is controlled by a "remote operator" up to "several thousand feet away".

picture from manufacturer Foster-Miller site

SWORDS is part of a flexible platform. Another version of the robot is being used for bomb defusing. It is made by Foster-Miller who is owned by QunietiQ who is owned by none other than the Carlyle Group. QuinetiQ is a privatized weapons maker that used to be part of the UK's Department of Defense.

Carlyle is a relatively elite private equity firm with over $18.9 billion in its funds, and roughly 600 investors (Carlyle Group Company page).

The write-ups on SWORDS wax eloquent in two different articles. The first by David Crane at Defense Review, and the another by Lorie Jewell at Military.com. Sgt. Jewell actually works for the Army News Service.

There seems to be no concern or alarm about arming a robot and sending it into battle. After all, the remote controlled Predator drones haven't caused many public waves - even when they are used as missile platforms. While SWORDS (in its various renditions) seems likely to save troop casualties, one has to wonder about its discriminatory capacity. Can a remote operator a half mile or more away from the robot adequately discriminate friend from foe / civilian from combatant under battlefield conditions? My guess is this will be one of Rumsfeld's "spiral development" projects. That means live testing in the field rather than a testing and development cycle.

There is a bit of difference between a bomb disposal unit and an armed robot. Just as there is a difference between an surveillance drone and a missile platform. What are the implications as decisions are being made on who lives and who dies at a specific spot by someone who is a thousand yards, or 15,000 miles, away? We know that the Predator (or its operators) have made more than a few mistakes. Swords is going to be placed on the ground in cities - much higher population density, and much more room for mistakes.