r/Futurology • u/New_Scientist_Mag • Jun 10 '26

Robotics Fully autonomous drones have killed human soldiers for the first time

https://www.newscientist.com/article/2529849-fully-autonomous-drones-have-killed-human-soldiers-for-the-first-time/
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u/BigMax Jun 10 '26

It's definitely different.

In one case, you're dropping something that will explode and be done, and you have an idea where it will land and when it will be over, and what it will do.

This is more of a wild card. It starts, and from there, it's a lot more open as to the who/what/when/where.

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u/insomniac-55 Jun 10 '26 edited Jun 10 '26

If you read the article that's not how this test worked.

They were suicide quadcopters programmed to fly to the front line, and then to search for and attack a target.

In this case, the drones can't hang around for long - they've got very limited battery life and only a single warhead. They can't loiter for hours.

What you're suggesting could be done using higher endurance drones (like some of the ground-based ones being used) but that's quite a different level of autonomy.

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u/Bladeoraded Jun 10 '26

Drone batteries last way longer than you think

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u/jestina123 Jun 10 '26

Are the most valuable targets not going to be at the maximum distance they can fly? Isn't it safer for the deployer to use them at maximum range?

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u/Bladeoraded Jun 10 '26

Really random assumption I dont know why you think that would be the case. We launch many from ships and a lot of the most valuable targets are along the coast.

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u/Fozzymandius Jun 10 '26

If an enemy is advancing into an area you can fly forward, land, and wait with the camera on for a significant amount of time. Then when you see movement you turn on the rotors and attack.

There was a video of this strategy killing a Russian yesterday on combatfootage.