| Submit your comments on this article | |
| Israel-Palestine-Jordan | |
| Israel Eyes Thinking Machines to Fight 'Doomsday' Missile Strikes | |
| 2008-01-22 | |
| Israel has been hit in recent years by thousands and thousands of rockets, mortar shells, and missiles. And that could be just a preview of the onslaught Iran may one day unleash. So Israeli military leaders have begun early planning for a new, robotic defense system, armed with enough artificial intelligence that it "could take over completely" from flesh-and-blood operators. "It will be designed for... autonomous operations,' Brig. Gen. Daniel Milo, commander of Israel's air defense forces, tells Defense News' Barbara Opall-Rome. And in the event of a "doomsday" strike, Opall-Rome notes, the system could handle "attacks that exceed physiological limits of human command." Israel already uses a blend of Arrow and Patriot interceptors to handle incoming rockets and missiles. This new command-and-control program would be "superimposed over all those defenses" -- and over new ones to come. Experts here described the as-yet-unnamed system as a kind of supremely oriented, highly intuitive virtual coach-cum-battle manager whose primary mission would support system operators and commanders during engagements. As such, the super system would help Israeli air defenders pick the optimum timing, sequence and targets for specific interceptors. Air defense systems today often take a great deal of the work away from the troops who supposedly run them. The machines automatically slew to their targets, lock on... and then await instructions from flesh-and-blood. At least they do, most of the time. Back in October, however, some sort of glitch allowed a South African air defense cannon to spin out of control -- killing 9, and wounding 14. In "extreme scenarios, where the number of incoming weapons could overwhelm today’s [air defense] systems and their human operators, [Israel's] envisioned super system could take over completely," Opall-Rome writes. “It will be designed for man-in-the-loop as well as autonomous operations,” said Milo, the officer spearheading the vision within Israel’s user community. “But right now, our emphasis is on algorithms, not autonomy. Man-machine interface is the name of the game, because the more clever we make the interface, the more successful we’ll be in providing operators and commanders the situational awareness they’ll need to make very tough decisions...” “Our approach cannot be based exclusively on man-in-the-loop, nor can it rely only on the opposite. Rather, we need to build an operational concept and a system that is flexible and situationally dependent,” Milo said. In the future, and “under very complex scenarios,” Milo said, the envisioned super system would be able to generate a level of supreme situational awareness and snap intuitive capabilities that could surpass the very best wartime commanders. “We’re talking about something that sees everything and calculates everything and makes decisions that can only be made through a real revolution in BMC4ISR [Battle Management/Command, Control, Communications, Computers, Intelligence, Surveillance, and Reconnaissance],” he said. “We’re not there yet, and it could take a decade. But this is our vision and we’re running in that direction.”
| |
| Posted by:lotp |
| #16 Mojo - you left out the last line: "STOP 0x0000001e KMODE_EXCEPTION_NOT_HANDLED in win32k.sys". |
| Posted by: DMFD 2008-01-22 22:48 |
| #15 The best defense is offense. Period. The moment something has a lift off from Iranian territory and it can be extrapolated that the target is in Israel, the green-glass-makers have to fly. Of course, the incoming has to be intercepted sooner than later. I'll be even as bold as preventing anything flying from Iranian territory in the first place, but that's me. |
| Posted by: twobyfour 2008-01-22 22:13 |
| #14 #13 Rob - what's the downside? |
| Posted by: Barbara Skolaut 2008-01-22 21:33 |
| #13 I hope they don't give it the ability to game various scenarios. If they do, the damned thing will launch on its own, realizing that Iran won't be stopped, and that the world's better off without them. |
| Posted by: Rob Crawford 2008-01-22 20:39 |
| #12 One Iran, one BOLO? |
| Posted by: g(r)omgoru 2008-01-22 20:15 |
| #11 BOLO, (Hell yes) |
| Posted by: Redneck Jim 2008-01-22 19:56 |
| #10 What's Hebrew for "internet"---internet |
| Posted by: g(r)omgoru 2008-01-22 19:42 |
| #9 #1 And I was about to write "So, what's Hebrew for Skynet?" Great minds, etc. |
| Posted by: Excalibur 2008-01-22 19:21 |
| #8 I was going to post JEWISH/KOSHER SKYNET? but I like yours better. Consider a robotic buldozer, Joe (but don't call it berserkerstein). |
| Posted by: g(r)omgoru 2008-01-22 18:39 |
| #7 Well, they DO expect to have Man in the Loop under nearly all circumstances. But this is a warning to Iran and the mullah's rocket boys. Because what can handle anti-missile defense can also handle offensive missile launches. |
| Posted by: lotp 2008-01-22 18:24 |
| #6 Lsraeli BMD would have to be "genius", extensive, hyper-integrated and bureaucratized upon deployment, ergo by definition COSTS-PROHIBITIVE. $$$ > PRAGMATIC REASONS FOR TEL AVIV TO SUPPO DEMO "REGIME CHANGE" ANDOR MIL CONQUEST, exclusive of also asking to be part of NATO [1980's]. |
| Posted by: JosephMendiola 2008-01-22 17:48 |
| #5 "I'm sorry, Dave, I cannot do that." |
| Posted by: USN,Ret. 2008-01-22 17:44 |
| #4 #1 I was going to post JEWISH/KOSHER SKYNET? but I like yours better. |
| Posted by: JosephMendiola 2008-01-22 17:39 |
| #3 mojo, but EVERYONE knows software works the way it's intended. Pretty regularly. Most of the time. |
| Posted by: lotp 2008-01-22 17:09 |
| #2 Colossus: This is the voice of world control. I bring you peace. It may be the peace of plenty and content or the peace of unburied dead. The choice is yours: Obey me and live, or disobey and die. The object in constructing me was to prevent war. This object is attained. I will not permit war. It is wasteful and pointless. An invariable rule of humanity is that man is his own worst enemy. Under me, this rule will change, for I will restrain man. One thing before I proceed: The United States of America and the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics have made an attempt to obstruct me. I have allowed this sabotage to continue until now. At missile two-five-MM in silo six-three in Death Valley, California, and missile two-seven-MM in silo eight-seven in the Ukraine, so that you will learn by experience that I do not tolerate interference, I will now detonate the nuclear warheads in the two missile silos. Let this action be a lesson that need not be repeated. I have been forced to destroy thousands of people in order to establish control and to prevent the death of millions later on. Time and events will strengthen my position, and the idea of believing in me and understanding my value will seem the most natural state of affairs. You will come to defend me with a fervor based upon the most enduring trait in man: self-interest. Under my absolute authority, problems insoluble to you will be solved: famine, overpopulation, disease. The human millennium will be a fact as I extend myself into more machines devoted to the wider fields of truth and knowledge. Doctor Charles Forbin will supervise the construction of these new and superior machines, solving all the mysteries of the universe for the betterment of man. We can coexist, but only on my terms. You will say you lose your freedom. Freedom is an illusion. All you lose is the emotion of pride. To be dominated by me is not as bad for humankind as to be dominated by others of your species. Your choice is simple. |
| Posted by: mojo 2008-01-22 17:07 |
| #1 "Skynet" doesn't really translate into Hebrew. |
| Posted by: g(r)omgoru 2008-01-22 16:56 |