The Defense Ethics Committee, this think tank backed by the Ministry of the Armed Forces to advise it on the most sensitive subjects, issued, Thursday, April 29, its second opinion since its creation a year ago. After the “augmented soldier”, in December, he unveiled, Thursday, April 29, his opinion on a subject that has become central in the arms race engaged by a certain number of powers: what specialists call fully lethal weapon systems. autonomous (SALA), sometimes summarized under the name “killer robots”.
In a 47-page document, each word of which appears weighed down with a trebuchet, the ethics committee thus confirms the line commonly accepted within the armed forces for several years on the subject of SALA. Or the rejection of the use, in a theater of war, of any form of programmed weapon over which man does not have complete control. “France confirms that it will not develop and use fully autonomous lethal weapon systems”, write the eighteen civilian and military members of this committee chaired by State Councilor Bernard Pêcheur, and where the former chief of staff of the armed forces, General Henri Bentégeat, sits.
On the other hand, the ethics committee is in favor of the development of intermediate weapons, called lethal weapon systems integrating autonomy (Salia). All the nuance is in the “i” of “integrating”. Clearly, the ethics committee opens the way to weapons or “robots” which can certainly kill, but will be “Unable to act alone, without human control, to modify their rules of engagement and to take lethal initiatives”, by adapting independently to a theater of war, for example.
Use of armed drones
Behind this technical definition, which can relate to various categories of weapons, is a reality already in motion within the French army. Especially for everything related to armed drones. After having slowed down for a long time on the subject, the Ministry of Defense has gradually taken the plunge in recent years. In particular in the Sahel, with the use since 2019 of American Reapers drones, which carry out a significant part of the airstrikes on terrorist groups. The army, it is not equipped with armed drones at this stage, but a reflection exists.
As the prospect of harsher conflicts looms at sea, particularly in the Indo-Pacific zone, this question of the use of armed drones is also becoming increasingly acute for the navy, even if at this stage , she does not have one. In order to cope with Chinese expansionism in the South China Sea, whether with military surface vessels or simple fishing fleets, the American Pentagon is seriously studying “dronization” in various forms. of the US Navy.
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