Without a direct operator but being able to fulfil many complicated tasks, unmanned vehicles have been used as one of the important platforms to raise combative capability of the army. According to military specialists, in the near future, unmanned vehicles will become “versatile” platforms, a favourite choice of many countries but they will also cause unexpected consequences.

An unmanned aerial vehicle (illustrative photo)

According to aerospace specialists, the advent of unmanned vehicles (UVs) is dated back to the 1920s and have been developed ever since to meet military requirements. In the  1946 – 1948 period, the US troops employed remote controlled aerial aircraft B-17 and F-6F to collect data about radiation emitted by nuclear tests.  In Vietnam War, the US also employed UVs in a number of military operations. In particular, in Gulf War (1991), Afghanistan War (2001) and Iraq War (2003), the US and NATO used UVs, especially unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), not only for collecting information, locating an enemy’s target , and constant surveillance in the field, but also for attacking important targets in the defensive depth of the enemy. Besides, unmanned ground vehicles (robotic devices) were also used effectively in reconnaissance, transportation, attacking ground targets or in demining… In recent years, the US has used UVs to make continuous and effective attack against fortresses of Al-Qaeda terrorist network globally.

As shown through their development, UVs have many advantages over manned ones, namely: small size, cheap price, high mobility and survivability, low rate of casualty for users  and low requirement for combative environment. Moreover, in terms of function, UVs are able to not only scout, observe but also assault almost every ground, air and surface target of the enemy. Thanks to its advantages, UVs have been used by war participants as a tool to satisfy their political, military, economic and diplomatic purposes. That’s why to date, there have been over 50 countries using UVs in their military operations. According to experts’ anticipation, in the next decades, there will be many more countries developing their own UVs, leading to the increasing number of user countries of this vehicle.

Experts anticipated that with the fast growth of UAVs, “future combat will be the fight between stealth UAVs and air defense weapons”. This means future theatre will see  major changes in both combat mode and method. Not only affecting the military, the boom of UVs has had significant affect on the world politics, reflected in the following aspects: First, the increasing development of UVs has triggered (overtly and covertly) a new arms race which creates concern of the world community. Second, UAVs have been used, in the name of destroying terrorists, protecting civilians to secretly carry out shady operations, or even kill innocents serving for a particular purpose. This not only violates international law but also sets dangerous and profound precedents. Third, with the aim to “avoid diplomatic embarrassment” the abuse of UVs as an hidden factor may cause distrust, making the world separated and insecure. Fourth, the mass production and deployment of UVs support for weapon worshipping that, weapon not human is the decisive factor of war, hence equate the nature of wars, and make the line between a just and an unjust war blurred.

UVs, including military robots, are invented, produced and used by humans. They reflect subjective attitude of human and are objects of human. UVs, however modern they are, cannot, by itself, harm humans or decide the nature of wars. The use of them, whether for  political, military or economic purposes, depends on human. In other words, humans have always been the decisive factor of wars. Weapons in general, UVs in particular, are means and tools used by humans to achieve their goals. If abused, they may cause unpredictable consequences.

Sr. Col.  Le Xuan Khanh