The Legal and Ethical Aspects of the Use of Lethal Autonomous Weapon Systems in Warfare

Abstract

The development of new technologies has always found its first application in warfare, from the invention of the bow and arrow, through the discovery of gunpowder, to the use of unmanned aerial vehicles in the “War on Terror.” The “successful” use of drones in the targeted killings of “terrorists” gave additional impetus to the development of new types of autonomous weapons that completely replace soldiers of blood and flesh on the battlefield. Currently, there is significant controversy over fully autonomous weapons that are fully autonomous in carrying out military operations. They can autonomously decide on the use of deadly force against “enemy” human beings. This kind of autonomy causes numerous controversies, not only legal but also ethical. Moreover, it calls into question the very essence of man, i.e., whether the “killer robot” is the next evolutionary stage in the development of the human species or a technological return to barbarism. This paper will analyze some of the above legal and ethical dilemmas that await us in the near future.