The U.S. military plans to produce thousands of autonomous combat robots in the next two years

The US military plans to begin using thousands of autonomous weapons systems in the next two years to counter China's growing power, US Deputy Defence Secretary Kathleen Hicks said.

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The so-called Replicator initiative aims to work with defence and other technology companies to produce large volumes of affordable systems for all branches of the military.

Hicks stated that there is an urgent need to change the way wars are fought. She said Replicator will produce "field attritable autonomous systems at scale of multiple thousands, in multiple domains" over the next 18-24 months.

The programme is also aimed at the longer term. Hicks believes that mass production of autonomous combat robots should prevent aggression by countries like China "between now and 2027, now and 2035, now and 2049, and beyond"

Source: The Conversation