Have Cyberwarfare and Drones Revolutionized Warfare?

As I already did in my lost blog post, I will try to concentrate on linking my CAJ topic to that of another student, concentrating once again on robotics. While doing some research on cyberwar linked to robotics, I came upon an article in the New York Times, informing about how robotics and cyberwarfare revolutionized warfare.

As proof of this assumption, the Battle of the Coral Sea, in which naval forces from Japan fought against the allied forces of Australia and the US, is mentioned. This was the first act of war in which carrier fought versus carrier, an inevitable result of the development of air, radio and radar technology. In military affairs this battle was considered a revolution. The revolution continued as nuclear and space weapons developed, but the most recent advancements in military capabilities include cyberwarfare and, of course, drones.

The authors of the article believe that the revolutions in military affairs of the 21^st century will be dominated by advancements in software and hardware. They introduce drones as military weaponry able to increase the strike distance of the military, while simultaneously placing no lives at risk. A great problem of these drones, however, is the fact that basic jammers could easily disrupt their ability to function properly.

Just as drones, cybertechnology is a method that succeeds in extending the military’s reach while protecting lives from real harm. A great example for this type of attack is the Stuxnet worm, which I have already introduced in a precedent blog post. Cybertechnology allows hackers to gain access to computers all over the world, even if those don’t have direct Internet access. With the infrastructure currently in place, satellites and fiber cables, a good code could be an extremely effective weapon. This shows that cybersecurity becomes more and more important and should not be underestimated.

Cybertechology and unmanned vehicles both have one great advantage: they make it hard to identify the source of the attack. There is a risk that both technologies will make it easier to wage war, as there are not that many lives at stake any longer. In the future, man sitting in front of computers might be the soldiers of the upcoming wars.

According to the authors, the U.S is doing well in wanting to train new security and cyber professionals. They are worried though, that there is currently an inadequate number of leaders and experienced engineers that develop those future warriors. The authors stress the importance of both robotics and cybertechnology in future warfare, emphasizing that those two cannot be separated. The underlying problem remains, that the nation’s leaders might never know the moral, social and political consequences that the use of cybertechnology and unmanned vehicles in war could lead to.