Autonomous Systems in a Military Context (Part 2): A Survey of the Ethical Issues

This is the second paper of two on the role of autonomy in the unmanned systems revolution currently underway and affecting military forces around the globe. In the last paper, the authors considered the implications of autonomy on the legal obligations of military forces and their ability to meet these obligations, primarily through a survey of the domestic law of a number of drone wielding nations and relevant international legal regimes, including the law of armed conflict, arms control law, international human rights law, and others. However, the impact of autonomy in the military context extends well beyond the law and also encompasses philosophy and morality. Therefore, this paper addresses perennial problems concerning autonomous systems and their impact on what justifies the initial resort to war, who may be legitimately targeted in warfare, the collateral effects of military weaponry and the methods of determining and dealing with violations of the laws of just war theory.