Thu, Mar 24, 2022 page8

• Autonomous weapons might save the nation

  • By Hung Wei-chan 洪偉展
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  Chinese soldiers outnumber their Taiwanese active-duty counterparts 10 to one.

  Although the Taiwan Strait acts as a natural barrier, limiting China to shipping or flying between 100,000 and 200,000 soldiers to Taiwan in a short period, should a cross-strait battle become a long-term war, China could send a larger number of troops over than Taiwan has.

  If the US sent no troops, how would Taiwan sustain a long-term engagement if its armed forces were gradually depleted?

  Taiwan should adopt a new approach. When fighting a war with humans, one soldier lost is one too many — especially in Taiwan’s case, given its limited troop strength.

  Although Taiwan might be able to expand its reserve forces, their combat readiness would be inferior.

  Thinking outside the box might be beneficial.

  Perhaps Taiwan could fight a war with automated machines, such as advanced “autonomous weapons” — a new type of military weapon that can independently hunt, identify and attack targets without human intervention.

  Using these would greatly bolster Taiwan’s national defenses.

  They have many advantages, not least of which is that an “infinite” number of automated machines can be manufactured, while it takes as long as 18 years to produce a human soldier.

  The death of a machine in combat costs relatively little, as an autonomous weapon might cost tens of thousands to hundreds of thousands of New Taiwan dollars to make, while compensation for the death of a soldier is typically up to a few million.

  Also, when an autonomous weapon is surrounded by the enemy, only the machine is lost, rather than a human life.

  For Taiwan, the development of autonomous weapons could preserve its troop strength.

  Last, and most importantly, the development of autonomous weapons using artificial intelligence would open up substantial business opportunities in Taiwan.

  There are various autonomous weapons being deployed.

  In the Demilitarized Zone separating the two Koreas, South Korea is using the SGR-A1 sentry guard system, which can automatically detect and kill North Korean soldiers crossing the border.

  Israel has IAI Harpy military drones — named after the harpy of Greek myth, a half human and half bird personification of storm winds — which can automatically detect and attack enemy radar systems.

  However, concerns over the development of autonomous weapons should be addressed.

  Many people are opposed to their use, because allowing machines to make decisions that could result in the taking of human lives touches on a fundamental moral issue, and such weapons might expand warfare indefinitely into the future.

  Despite these concerns, the US, Russia, China and other military powers are striving to develop autonomous weapons.

  As such weapons could be a life-saving “trump card” for Taiwan, they should be considered. After all, having machines fight a war for Taiwan could minimize the loss of human lives, while maximizing and preserving its troop strength.

  Taiwan should initially develop autonomous weapons for specific functions, such as coastal border guards, and their use should be regulated — for example, by limiting their area and range of use.

  The government should first lay the foundation for an autonomous weapon industry.

  Hung Wei-chan is an assistant professor in Kao Yuan University’s Department of Digital Business Management.

  Translated by Eddy Chang
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