Top Five War Bots the US Doesn't Have

For the most part, armed robots are a Western phenomenon, with massive defense budgets and multi-national contractors. So even though Hezbollah has flown at least three possibly bomb-laden drones into Israeli airspace, unmanned killing machines remain largely the purview of more well-heeled military forces. While the United States remains the definitive leader in unmanned military vehicles, here are some of the most promising ones being developed elsewhere.

nEUROn
A team of European firms is developing this unmanned combat aerial vehicle (UCAV) demonstrator, with the end goal of operating several semiautonomous UCAVs at once to perform bombing missions while remaining invisible to radar and infrared sensors. The project will only produce a single aircraft, but the advances in swarming and stealth technologies that come from the prototype could spin off related European defense contracts. A successful nEUROn demonstrator could lead to a fully developed UCAV that's perfectly suited to disabling anti-air weapons ahead of human-piloted missions.

Operator: European Union
Developer: Dassault (lead), EADS, Saab
Armament: Laser-guided air-to-ground munitions
Performance: The 5.5 to 7-ton nEUROn will have a 12.5-meter wingspan, and fly at up to 0.8 Mach. Potentially, an individual operator will be able to control an entire squad of networked UCAVs at once.
Progress: Dassault plans to fly the initial tech demonstrator by 2011.

SGR-A1
Although some early reports envisioned South Korea’s new sentry robot patrolling the disputed border with North Korea, the SGR-A1 actually won’t go anywhere. The system is a smart, unmanned gun tower, intended to partially relieve humans of guard duty at government installations or on the border between North and South Korea. Developers have given it the capability to fire on its own, so if deployed this system would be the first to autonomously shoot at a target. However, that would likely be a mode of last resort, with humans normally making the decision to engage. There’s a familiar logo emblazoned on the front of the CGI render above: Samsung. The Samsung that the Western world knows is a scrappy consumer electronics powerhouse and high-profile manufacturer of high-def TVs. And then there’s Samsung in South Korea, building an arsenal of tanks and armed robots.

Operator: South Korea
Developer: Samsung Techwin
Armament: Variety of small arms, including light machine gun or launcher to dispense tear gas canisters or rubber rounds
Performance: A trio of cameras can detect targets at up to 4 km, and a laser rangefinder helps track them at up to 2 km (distances are halved at night). Its pattern recognition algorithms theoretically allow it to pick out humans, and presumably prevent it from opening fire on animals.
Progress: The developer did not respond to calls and e-mails, but the system has missed its announced deadline — it was originally slated for deployment by the end of last year.

Heron TP ("Eitan")
The Heron Turboprop (or TP) is Israel's largest UAV, and one of the largest in the world, with a wingspan of 26 meters. Along with the standard drone assignments of reconnaissance and targeting, experts have speculated that this giant aircraft will play a more active combat role, possibly knocking out ballistic missile sites before they can launch against Israel.

Operator: Israel
Developer: Malat
Armament: None specified
Performance: With more sophisticated avionics than Israel's previous UAVs, more endurance (up to 36 hours), and a higher altitude ceiling (at least 45,000 feet), this 1200-hp aircraft will not only fly above civilian air traffic, but it should require less operator intervention. It can also take off and land autonomously, although that has become a standard feature for many current UAV models. The real question is payload - the TP can carry at least one ton, fueling suspicions that some sort of weapon system could be installed. Israel, however, is famously tight-lipped about its UAVs, refusing to confirm that it has ever engaged targets with its existing fleet. In other words, we may never know for certain whether the Heron TP can, or will, be used offensively.
Progress: This UAV was unveiled last June; production is expected to begin early next year.

Protector
This unmanned surface vehicle (USV) was built to provide a measure of defense against a very specific kind of asymmetric warfare - suicide boats, like the one that punctured the hull of the U.S.S. Cole in Yemen. By investigating a suspicious boat, either an approaching vessel or an apparent derelict, the Protector can trigger a suicide attack, or provide a warning to larger vessels. In a less sacrificial role, the USV can also respond directly to threats, with a hail of bullets.

Operator: Singapore
Developer: BAE Systems, Lockheed Martin, RAFAEL
Armament: 7.62mm machine gun
Performance: Capable of speeds of up to 30 knots, this 30-ft-long robot has a 10-mile range, and is equipped with microphones and speakers, for remote communication between operators and potential hostiles. Its stabilized weapon mount hasn't been tested in combat, but since the vessel itself consists of a rigid-hulled inflatable boat, the Protector isn't necessarily designed to survive a firefight. Once the guns or bombs go off, its job is essentially done.
Progress: Although the United States Navy and Coast Guard continue to investigate the Protector, this USV has been an active part of Singapore's Navy since 2005.

BLADE (Battlefield Loitering Artillery Direct Effect)
"Loitering munitions" is military speak for a brutally simple concept: kamikaze drones, UAVs that are loaded with explosives and ordered to nosedive into enemy targets. Loitering systems have been deployed, such as Israel's Harpy UAV, but Britain's current initiative to develop its own fleet of self-destructive robots has led to multiple UAV programs. One of them, the BLADE system, is based around the unmanned Sparrow-N aircraft. It would allow multiple drones to circle an area, searching and destroying as a team.

Operator: United Kingdom
Developer: Ultra Electronics (lead), BAE Systems, EMIT, Qinetiq, RAFAEL, Raytheon
Armament: Onboard munitions
Performance: Like the Sparrow-N it's based on, each BLADE UAV has a maximum endurance of 6 hours. It also has the ability to navigate to a destination autonomously, and guide its own final descent toward a target. In theory, drones could perform a range of supportive roles, some searching for targets, others ramming into them, and still others assessing battle damage (to determine whether more kamikaze runs are necessary).
Progress: The BLADE team is scheduled to produce a demonstration by the end of this year.

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