Defense Department scientists and engineers are diligently working on supplying the US military with innovative smart weapons such as swarming drones in the sea and air.
"Our Navy labs are developing and prototyping undersea drones in multiple sizes and with diverse payloads — which is important, since unmanned undersea vehicles can operate in shallow water where manned submarines cannot," Carter said during a conference at Washington's Center for Strategic and International Studies.
However, Carter said at the conference that the robotic systems will not be programmed to decide on their own who is their enemy and when to kill.
"When it comes to using autonomy in our weapons systems, we must always have a human being making decisions about the use of force," he said.
"It is questionable that fully autonomous weapons would be capable of meeting international humanitarian law standards, including the rules of distinction, proportionality, and military necessity, while they would threaten the fundamental right to life and principle of human dignity," Human Rights Watch wrote in a statement as it called for a ban on the development, production and use of such systems.
