Robots humble US Army in wargames

Future warfare, if this trend continues, between a first world country and anyone else of a lessor tech ability is going to be a walk over. Some of these things are efforts and developments we hear about and to be honest I for one do hope we have even bigger better stuff just waiting for the right moment to come out of hiding.

How big a difference does it make when you reinforce foot troops with drones and ground robots? You get about a 10–fold increase in combat power, according to a recent Army wargame.

“Their capabilities were awesome,” said Army Capt. Philip Belanger, a Ranger Regiment and Stryker Brigade veteran who commanded a robot-reinforced platoon in nearly a dozen computer-simulated battles at the Fort Benning’s Maneuver Battle Lab. “We reduced the risk to US forces to zero, basically, and still were able to accomplish the mission.”

According to a special report from Sydney J. Freedberg Jr. in Breaking Defense, that mission involved dislodging a defending company of infantry, about 120 soldiers, with a single platoon of just 40 attackers on foot.

That’s a task that would normally be assigned to a battalion of over 600. In other words, instead of the minimum 3:1 superiority in numbers that military tradition requires for a successful attack, Belanger’s simulated force was outnumbered 1:3.

When they ran the scenario without futuristic technologies, using the infantry platoon as it exists today, “that did not go well for us,” Belanger said drily.

www.asiatimes.com...

I think a member posted the following video in some thread or I got it in an email either way, even though the scenario is fake and most of the actions are not of an independent robot the whole video is worth a watch and endearing at the end. Well endearing to me anyway..hahah youtu.be...

If the tech is reliable and durable, I'd guess their "1 to 3" ratio might work out to 1 to 1 on an actual battlefield with all its variables. Still a huge gain for Western powers that can't afford to field hordes of ground troops anymore.

Cheers

a reply to: 727Sky

On August 6, 1945 the paradigm of 'war' changed forever. Sadly, most people today still don't realize this.

Prior to this date the objective of war was to vanquish your opponent. After that date the objective of war is merely a contest to see who can break more of the other guy's stuff. The problem is, people get in the way and are injured or killed as a result. And, this objective can never revert back to the original objective, not ever. It's not possible. Well, it IS possible, but the consequences are unimaginable and unthinkable.

Consequently, robotics and proxies are a natural evolution of this theme. It was only a matter of time. In the future all modern wars will be fought by proxy warriors because...it's not about killing the soldier, it's about breaking more of his stuff.

Too bad humanity can't see this.

They are using the wrong weapon against the robot. Spray it with a mixture of super glue, aluminum powder and Kevlar fibers. It can’t see, it can't hear, it can’t communicate, it can’t move, it's done.

Oh, the capture team can undo the robots incapacity with nail polish remover to easily get any intelligence from the technology or the programming.

A stick is not a robot fighting weapon unless there is a glass jar of that mix on the end of the stick.

I thought of weird things like this while making a Magnus Robot Fighter costume about a year ago.

a reply to: 727Sky

this seems to be a very flawed premise - releying on the opp for haveing ZERO robot // drone tech [ or any other technology it seems ]

bottom line - how does the " 1:3 assault group ratio " fare when the defending garrison has drones // robots too ?

a reply to: ignorant_ape
Will make no difference providing the porper weapons are used.

Small weighted fishing nets dropped from drones or tossed over an enemy drone and it is done.

You can build a handheld emp gun to wipe out electronics but I will not go into how because it would get you in trouble with the FCC and other federal agencies.

Bow and arrow with 25 to 50 foot string on arrow. Aim just over propellers. No more drone.

Please see my signature below.

a reply to: ignorant_ape

bottom line - how does the " 1:3 assault group ratio " fare when the defending garrison has drones // robots too ?

One guess is that electronic warfare capability will have its say as well in these kind of contests.

Cheers

a reply to: Flyingclaydisk

it's not about killing the soldier, it's about breaking more of his stuff.

Very true that ! During WW2 America could make more than they were losing do to the manufacturing base. I was told that for ever hand grenade the German's made America made three and that ain't counting Russia which finally got their manufacturing going. Considering our tanks were death traps and easily knocked out by the German tanks of the era we needed to make more stuff not to mention all the bombers we were losing on the raids without fighter escort.

A first tier war even without nukes is something I hope I never see but if it happens I hope our side has the quality and quality that is needed to close the deal..

a reply to: 727Sky

I was told that for ever hand grenade the German's made America made three

That stat is really eye-opening when one considers the Germans had something like three times the number of infantrymen that the U.S. Army had* (and about one third of the U.S. divisions were in the Pacific Theater).

Cheers

* -- an unsourced estimate but I believe it to be reasonably accurate

The future is scary

Robots will outpace humans in every way, on the battlefield potentially shooting 5/10 people within the blink of an eye

Just watch the speed these sentinel II AI robot sort ripened and unripened tomatoes

a reply to: 727Sky

This has a real Achilles heal. Who is the biggest tech manufacture in the world. Who can print out drones and robots faster than anyone else..

China.

War is about creating debt these days, has been for the last century. Robots will be more expensive than soldiers rest assured Pentagon comptrollers will see to that. Having the right drone or robot for a mission will be the key thing tactically. I hope they're smart enough to make basic machines that are convertible for various missions rather than overly complex single use items. Then again it's the Pentagon so who knows?

a reply to: 727Sky

Watch this video showing robot technology getting "man handled" by low income workers:

originally posted by: Asktheanimals
War is about creating debt these days, has been for the last century. Robots will be more expensive than soldiers rest assured Pentagon comptrollers will see to that. Having the right drone or robot for a mission will be the key thing tactically. I hope they're smart enough to make basic machines that are convertible for various missions rather than overly complex single use items. Then again it's the Pentagon so who knows?

There are much better ways of creating debt involving socialism.

originally posted by: beyondknowledge
a reply to: ignorant_ape
Will make no difference providing the porper weapons are used.

Small weighted fishing nets dropped from drones or tossed over an enemy drone and it is done.

You can build a handheld emp gun to wipe out electronics but I will not go into how because it would get you in trouble with the FCC and other federal agencies.

Bow and arrow with 25 to 50 foot string on arrow. Aim just over propellers. No more drone.

Please see my signature below.

One word...Ewoks!

Those little murder bears can destroy Imperial Walkers.

originally posted by: Asktheanimals
War is about creating debt these days, has been for the last century. Robots will be more expensive than soldiers rest assured Pentagon comptrollers will see to that. Having the right drone or robot for a mission will be the key thing tactically. I hope they're smart enough to make basic machines that are convertible for various missions rather than overly complex single use items. Then again it's the Pentagon so who knows?

And like somebody already said regarding China

They have both expendable bodies to throw down as cannon fodder and huge manifesting capabilities

Time to break China socially like there attempt at turning the west RED

I think ATS has a number of these far left communist numptys

a reply to: dfnj2015

Nothing makes more money than war the same people fund, arm all sides. Then they own the companies who go to rebuild Countries after war.

Robots have the advantage of not sending back body bags which never looks like good PR.

Probably as time goes on humans will be relegated to just setting the goals and letting the machines get on with it except for probably more specially trained people who can develop ideas on the fly as with adaptive learning as soon as you pull off a stunt once they'll adapt so as not to be caught out again.

Probably as a stop gap simple changes of weaponry and tactics will reduce the value of the robots as an assault force but when you can saturate an area with millions of them all with different abilities reporting back you won't be able to hide or communicate without the other side knowing.

originally posted by: purplemer
a reply to: 727Sky

This has a real Achilles heal. Who is the biggest tech manufacture in the world. Who can print out drones and robots faster than anyone else..

China.

Hmm.. china's manufacturing should not be mentioned without a reference to harbor freight tools and their reliability and longevity?

a reply to: Knapperdude

Hmm.. china's manufacturing should not be mentioned without a reference to harbor freight tools and their reliability and longevity

Like most things you get what you pay for. Some of the most sophisticated electronics in the world now come from China..

Happy days/