A weaponized Turkish military drone reportedly attacked a human target without being instructed to do so.
The news comes as part of a report issued by the United Nations (UN) Security Council’s Panel of Experts on Libya, which discovered that the military drone had hunted down the human target autonomously for the very first time.
The incident is said to have occurred in Libya in March of last year, and despite the fact that it occurred more than a year ago, it is unclear if there were any casualties.
According to Business Insider, the lethal drone, known as the KARGU-2 quadcopter, attacked a Libyan National Army soldier during an altercation with Libyan Government forces.
According to The Daily Star, the KARGU-2 can be fitted with an explosive charge and directed at a target before detonating on impact.
Jack Watling at UK defense think tank Royal United Services Institute, told New Scientist, “This does not show that autonomous weapons would be impossible to regulate,” he says. “But it does show that the discussion continues to be urgent and important. The technology isn’t going to wait for us.”
Report published by Human Rights Watch’s states that it is “call[ing] for a pre-emptive ban on the development, production, and use of fully autonomous weapons.”
The report states:
Fully autonomous weapons, also known as “killer robots,” would be able to select and engage targets without meaningful human control. Precursors to these weapons, such as armed drones, are being developed and deployed by nations including China, Israel, South Korea, Russia, the United Kingdom and the United States. There are serious doubts 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 calls for a preemptive ban on the development, production, and use of fully autonomous weapons. Human Rights Watch is a founding member and serves as global coordinator of the Campaign to Stop Killer Robots.
Source: New Scientist