SOCOM Fields Killer Robots “For Immediate Force Protection”

SOCOM Fields Killer Robots “For Immediate Force Protection”


A new R&D budget document from the Office of the Secretary of Defense reveals that Special Operation Command (SOCOM) has already acquired and possibly fielded remote weapon technology for ground robots, according to Forbes.
Called the Lightweight Remote Weapons System (LRWS), it’s a miniature version of the Commonly Remotely Operated Weapon Station (CROWS). This unmanned turret enables an operator inside an armored vehicle to find targets via cameras and engage targets with high-powered weapons.
The R&D budget document from the Office of the Secretary of Defense said:

“LRWS rapidly developed and evaluated a remote weapon station with significant size weight and power reduction to enable operations on remotely operated small ground vehicles.” 

The weight of the LRWS is only 70 pounds versus CROWS of 350. This makes it small enough to be mounted on a Foster-Miller TALON ground robot. The new system includes various sensors such as a camera, thermal imaging, and laser range finder. The LRWS supports a machinegun or a sniper rifle.
The document further said the LRWS is a “man-in-the-loop” system is controlled by a human operator rather than artificial intelligence.

“LRWS transitioned to US Special Operations Command (USSOCOM) for immediate force protection of SOF operators while conducting the operational evaluation of the prototype units and will subsequently be available to all operators within the USSOCOM.” 

“This suggests that Special Forces acquired the new remote weapon systems and are using them on unmanned vehicles for Force Protection, such as guarding a base perimeter,” said Forbes.
A SOCOM spokesperson said that the document “does not explicitly specify the vehicle SOF operators are using while assessing the prototype station in question.”
But, more or less, what’s important here is that SOCOM is already fielding armed robots on the modern battlefield.
The US Army is quickly developing and fielding light, medium, and heavy robotic combat vehicles to prepare for future combat as part of a rapid modernization effort.
Earlier this year, the service took delivery of two Robotic Combat Vehicle-Light unmanned ground vehicle prototypes (RCV-Ls).
What comes next is autonomous weaponry and how a line of code will decide what to kill. [My comment: armed robots will be used in “domestic war on extremism” scenarios instead of sending human SWAT teams door to door. And there is no technological impediment to running them autonomously by AI instead of using a remote human operator. Running them autonomously will put the kill-no kill decision in the hands of distant bureaucrats who program the robots, instead of human LEOs or FLEAs on the scene, reducing potential moral hesitation and future guilt complexes.] Zerohedge Link

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About the Author: Matt Bracken

Old frogman, sailor, boat builder, novelist and essayist. Matthew Bracken was born in Baltimore, Maryland in 1957, and attended the University of Virginia, where he received a BA in Russian Studies and was commissioned as a naval officer in 1979. Later in that year he graduated from Basic Underwater Demolition/SEAL training, and in 1983 he led a Naval Special Warfare detachment to Beirut, Lebanon. Since then he’s been a welder, boat builder, charter captain, ocean sailor, essayist and novelist. He lives in North Florida. Links to many of Matt’s short stories and essays may be found at EnemiesForeignAndDomestic.com, along with excerpts from his five novels: the Enemies Foreign and Domestic series, Castigo Cay and The Cliffs of Zerhoun. His essays and short stories can be found in “The Bracken Collection: Essays and Short Fiction 2010 to 2019”. All of his short stories and essays may be reproduced on the internet, in part or in whole, as long as proper attribution is given, and they are not sold for profit without the permission of the author.

24 Comments

  1. LMAO March 12, 2021 at 09:11

    Lockheed and friends couldn’t keep Iran from hacking and capturing a drone. I think country boys will find a way to turn these into the redneck version of ordering ATF prohibited weapons for home delivery.

    • 0ughtsix March 12, 2021 at 10:48

      Man makee, man breakee.
      NO moral issues with destroying a machine, or the ghouls who design, construct or operate them.

  2. BUDDYBEAR March 12, 2021 at 09:24

    Fewer moral issues involved in killing a machine. They’ll need hundreds of thousands and a production facility.

  3. MTHead March 12, 2021 at 11:04

    All the more reason for a 308. Putting a 150 gr’er through that camera tower seems like a good way to uncle Murphy their little robot. Maybe get some new weapons out of the deal?
    Paint grenades anyone? I hear they work wonders on lenses?

    • short shadow March 13, 2021 at 16:21

      Be sure to note the camera with a large lens between the machine gun and the grenade launchers. It also looks like a lens cover on the coyote brown thing on the far side of the MG.
      Due to what looks like lens for illumination and laser beside the large lens and the grenade tubes, I suspect it is the aiming cluster. It’s location makes surreptitiously applying leaded or paint to blind it difficult, as there is almost certainly a procedure established for when the camera tower goes down…like switch to thermal (or whatever that central camera is) and drive in circles to find the saboteur.

      • MTHead March 14, 2021 at 12:13

        Absolutely, things like this are deadly as hell. And will be getting more deadly as time goes by. But it’s still an 80 lbs. machine. And were humans. Were far more deadly. Far more cunning. And far more mobile. That thing, and crap built like it, won’t be venturing out of most urban settings.
        It’s good to know what’s out there. But we must compel ourselves to remember that much of these things are ED-209’s. (Just another way to make money off government.). And after watching Iran steal one of our shiny new stealth drones. It might be as simple as hacking the signal and telling it to shut down. As Microsoft needs to update.

  4. Anonymous March 12, 2021 at 11:47

    5

  5. Brad March 12, 2021 at 11:58

    There’s a company called Precision Remotes that’s been building and selling ROWs to the military and LE agencies for at least 12 years. Check them out. They build some pretty bad ass stuff. They are also the outfit that builds the remote sniper rifle that was used in the movie Shooter.

    • Juri March 12, 2021 at 15:54

      Well. Now why this high tech remote controlled stuff is not popular ? In the first place, remote operated sniper rifles look attractive. Just put the damn thing up, then go home and play safely with your computer or whatever remote control.
      No battlefield risk, no problems with common human shooing mistakes like shaking hands, wrong breathing or sharp trigger pulling. And no problem getting away after shot.
      So why those remote shooting devices are not popular ? Everybody can make them at home using cheap remote robot controlling electric engines and cameras.
      One reason might be that those shoot over wire devices may have problems that are impossible to overcome. What is somehow good. How many anti communist folk survived Iraq op tour because wire controlled roadside IED went off too early or too late ?

      • NC Scout March 12, 2021 at 18:03

        You have no idea what you’re talking about.

        • boss21 March 12, 2021 at 18:49

          LOL. Hell, precision rifle chassis and scopes are a dime a dozen.

          • MC March 12, 2021 at 20:13

            “dime a dozen”
            care to back that up slick?
            In a wrol/shtf setting they will not be laying around the battle space or on the street corner….
            So, enlighten us, based on your vast .mil experience, in obtaining precision weapons platforms for a dime a dozen..
            Curious minds want to know….

  6. Michael "The Big Man" Collins March 12, 2021 at 12:03

    an ap round or three thru the camera, etc., renders that little fucker useless…then scavenge the weapons and booby trap it…

    • Reader March 12, 2021 at 13:34

      Fool.
      Paintball gun for the win.

      • MC March 12, 2021 at 15:39

        Don’t be a dick, snarky comments aren’t welcome..imo, the only items of value would be the weapons platform..

        • Reader March 12, 2021 at 21:53

          That isn’t close to snarky.
          It’s foolish to go at something remote.
          Too close? Bet it goes BOOM.
          Paintball shots to the camera, advantage You.

          • NC Scout March 13, 2021 at 08:04

            In “paintball range” you’ve already been spotted. Doesn’t matter what you do to a camera at that point.

        • Luke March 13, 2021 at 01:27

          Yea he seems to be a dick I agree. But if I am reading his very limited expression of speech he may be on to someone MC. Fight those fuckers with paintballs because once the cams go the operator is blind. That’s if I am understanding correctly? As i was telling a buddy earlier this week, a reckoning is coming. There’s no way to avoid it. The institutions keep watering down fighters with diversity. Rather it be right wing resistance or foreign aggression soon the military will have to prove itself. It’s not a matter of if but when.
          When hostilities break out the recruiting numbers will go to hell. I can almost see a draft. That will be laughable. After 9/11 so many people wanted to go fight for the country they loved. I don’t see anything remotely close to that happening anymore regardless of the antagonist. If the woke shit continues soon the bad asses that fly the jets might bolt. We still have much leverage. The FBI and the like are much less disciplined than previous generations. This is all good for us. Yes they have all the technological advantages. I understand that but they don’t have the heart we do. We need the overwhelming population to turn against TPTB. They will provide cover and other needed assistance (medical, supplies, and sustenance).
          Be patient as the war has already started as most of you understand. There is no way for our rulers to avoid turmoil in the coming days. All we can do now is prepare and laugh.

          • Guy Ring March 24, 2021 at 03:52

            The US military with it’s PC goals will be soundly defeated on a not to distant battle field. They will purge the best soldiers and field the mediocre! As well the best of the officer Corps!

          • Guy Ring March 24, 2021 at 03:55

            Gadgets will not save them! Just like the wonder weapons did not save Germany!

  7. bass21 March 12, 2021 at 15:03

    So Chris Miller said Trump ‘incited’ the mob in DC. Is there one of these freaks that’s any use? IFF was never so easy.

  8. Otto March 12, 2021 at 20:13

    There is already precedence. Remember the Dallas shooter, they just suicide bombed the shooter with a robot and an explosive. not that it wasn’t deserved but there is already precedence and no legal question afterwards

  9. Johnny Paratrooper March 13, 2021 at 12:38

    This has been in the works for some time. The Air Force recently purchased some of those “Spot Bots”. They are designed for base security. This complicates things. Almost certainly they will have IFF sensors. Likely designed in a similar fashion as the Fighter Jet’s “Reply or Die” radar communications system.
    Read the product description in the “Drive” article. They are quite capable. The Gen 2 models will be able to swim.
    https://www.popularmechanics.com/military/weapons/a33983077/robot-guard-dogs-us-air-force/
    https://www.thedrive.com/the-war-zone/38000/here-is-what-the-air-forces-new-robot-dogs-are-actually-capable-of

  10. vyt1az March 14, 2021 at 20:12

    Looks like the thing in the picture has an antenna or two. What happens when it’s jammed? I’m guessing for now, they’re not programmed to hunt / kill without a human overseer with a satellite feed or a team nearby with a remote.
    I’m sure in the future they may come with object / facial recognition and complex scenarios programmed in to carry out orders without a remote operator, but for now I suspect if we can mitigate our own IR / RF signatures, we have a good fighting chance.

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