Robot Fighter Jet Shot Down After Malfunction

by Amar Toor on November 14, 2009 at 02:12 PM

Proving that we might not be quite ready to enter into the space age of modern warfare, a robot-controlled U.S. fighter jet went haywire in Afghanistan Sunday, and had to be shot down to prevent disaster. According to USAFCENT Public Affairs, the plane was "flying a combat mission when positive control of the MQ-9 was lost." That can't be good. Before the rogue robot could get too far afield, though, a good, old-fashioned human-controlled jet was called in to shoot it down to earth.

Causes of the military mishap aren't yet clear, though the Register humorously speculates:

"It wasn't clear from the US military announcement whether the erratic death-bot had turned on its masters and was planning an attack on critical US logistics bases located north of the Afghan border, or whether it had sickened of reaping hapless fleshies like corn and was hoping merely to escape. Alternatively the machine assassin may merely have succumbed to boredom or - just possibly - a mundane, non-anthropomorphic technical fault of some kind."

It's a good thing it was quickly resolved. We all know the kind of worldwide doom and destruction that "going rogue" can bring upon the world. [From: The Register, via Geekologie and io9]

Tags: airforce, airplane, fighter jet, FighterJet, military, robot, top, weird

Comments

shinolahNov 14th 2009 6:18PM

Neutral

Robot Fighter Jet Shot Down After Malfunction...

Flown by a man in the loop, the MQ-9 is not a robot, flying itself. I would think that the propeller on the back of the MQ-9 would interfere with the jet engine, which appears to be stealthily concealed. While it is at times an Unmanned Combat Air Vehicle, the MQ-9 is more of a looker than a fighter. Truth be told, the only part of the headline that is correct is the word Malfunction.

Dislike

Report

postingcaNov 15th 2009 2:15PM

Neutral

You could probably safely add the words "shot" and "down" too.

Dislike

Report

jasonNov 14th 2009 7:28PM

Neutral

Seriously - What kind of a crazed fear mongering article is this?!

Obviously the writers know nothing about how the MQ-9 system works. It is completely radio controlled by skilled pilots on the ground. By losing 'positive control' simply means that it no longer was recieving radio communication, most likely by the reciever on board the plane malfunctioning.

Who wants a plane buzzing around with no one controlling it? It would keep on flying until it slammed into something - a civilian, a house, or open desert... who knows. So of course it had to be shot down.

There is currently no Artificially Intelligent war machine in the skies or on the ground. All robots are controlled by human operators.

Dislike

Report

ryofanNov 14th 2009 9:44PM

Neutral

Happiest fighter pilot in the USAF.

Dislike

Report

kcdgeniusNov 14th 2009 10:03PM

Neutral

I can see the problem right there in the photo. You put the camera system from the HAL9000 on the nose of the plane, idiots!

Dislike

Report

kcdgeniusNov 14th 2009 10:05PM

Neutral

Im sorry Dave. I cant let you compromise my mission, so Ive disabled the command link.

Dislike

Report

ThomasNov 15th 2009 8:15AM

Neutral

True - there are no "Advanced AI" controls in the MQ-9, Just "Low Level AI", however there are designs for "Advanced AI" functions in future autonomous military equipment (including an AI tank). But lets face it folks, Low Level AI weapons have been used since WW2. Any weapon that has a guidance system is considered a "low level computer AI". There were even several remote controlled weapons in WW2, including the German's Goliath Tracked Mine, and the Soviet radio controled "TeleTank". There are many AI military programs and vehichles out there. This includes ACER, ARTS, BigDog, Dassault nEUROn, Dragon Runner, MATILDA, MULE, R-Gator, Ripsaw MS1, RAAS, SUGV, Syrano, Train Cable UAV (TCUAV) Is a combination of three concepts :Unmanned aerial vehicle (UAVs), Unmanned ground vehicle (UGVs), Train. iRobot Warrior, Excalibur unmanned aerial vehicle. But AI is still at early stages of development. What I fear far more than a rogue robotic system, is that an enemy hacker may hack our autonomous weapons systems and use our own remote weapons against us.

Dislike

Report

fastharryDOTcomNov 16th 2009 8:08AM

Neutral

I'm surprised that it did not have a "self destruct" sequence code. I mean, even the "Enterprise" had one, and that was 30 years ago.

Dislike

Report

kcdgeniusNov 16th 2009 11:20AM

Neutral

"....Flown by a man in the loop, the MQ-9 is not a robot, flying itself....' I love it when people post BS on technology websites with an attitude. These aircraft absolutely DO fly themselves. The pilot only enters commands to change the flight path (heading, destination, altitiude..), the plane flys itself. the pilot enters target information for the weapon system, the plane fires the weapons at the correct time.

Dislike

Report

kcdgeniusNov 16th 2009 11:23AM

Neutral

"...not a robot..." WTH do you think an autopilot IS?

Dislike

Report

mmmbabyilikethatNov 19th 2009 7:37PM

Neutral

can i fly it at the local RC club?

Dislike

Report

Add your comments

Your comments:

Remember me

E-Mail me when someone replies to this comment

Please keep your comments relevant to this blog entry. Email addresses are never displayed, but they are required to confirm your comments.

When you enter your name and email address, you'll be sent a link to confirm your comment, and a password. To leave another comment, just use that password.

To create a live link, simply type the URL (including http://) or email address and we will make it a live link for you. You can put up to 3 URLs in your comments. Line breaks and paragraphs are automatically converted — no need to use <p> or <br /> tags.