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book review

96

Book Review
Book Review of P. W. Singer, Wired for War: The Robotics
Revolution and Conflict in the 21st Century, NY: The Penguin
Press, 2009, 512 pages.

by CPT Chong Shi Hao

A group of top Counterstrike
gamers who won the World Cyber
Games championship a few years
ago are vigorously clicking on
their mouse. Their characters
are constantly moving, hunting
down their enemies with grenades
and assault rifles. A sense of
thrilling exhilaration electrifies
their coordinated movements,
like a well-trained four man
SWAT section.
Bang! goes one of their SAR
21 rifles.
Yeah! Ive got him! one of
them exclaims as he watches his
target in camoufl age uniform
collapse.
The captain behind them
congratulates them for their
successful mission and orders
them to move their robots back
to camp for After Operation
Servicing. They are taking part in
the Armys latest trial program on
future combat drones, operated by
talented youngsters adept at first
person shooter games.
A fictitious anecdote which
probably sounds far-fetched, but
this might not be too impossible,

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thinks Peter Warren Singer in

his book Wired for War: The
Robotics Revolution and Conflict
in the 21st Century.1 He is the
Director of the 21st Century
Defense
Initiative
at
the
Brookings Institution and is
considered one of the worlds
foremost experts on changes
in 21st century warfare.2 Wired
for War is written based on
a combination of hard data,
interviews,
anecdotes
and
unclassified
information.
Its analysis draws from the
intersection
of
politics,
society and popular culture in
order to understand peoples
attitudes towards, acceptance
of and acquisition of unmanned
technologies for military use. This
book also explores the political,
legal
and
ethical
problems
surrounding the use of robots.
This thought provoking book
comes at a timely moment as many
developed and developing armed
forces invest time and treasure on
the research and development of
unmanned and robotic technologies.
The proliferated use of unmanned
aerial vehicles (UAVs) by the Central
Intelligence Agency of USA in
surveillance and assassination of

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book review

high value targets in Afghanistan

and Pakistan has created new
vistas in waging modern warfare.
In a way, this has invigorated
interest in pursuing unmanned
warfare as a way of revolutionizing
future wars.

Military robotics scored its

first tactical success during the
1982 war between Israel and
Lebanon (Syrias proxy). The
Israelis flew UAVs to gather the
electronic frequencies of Syrian
radars and then sent in a swarm
of UAVs emitting fake signals.
The Syrians mistook this for a
real attack and fired off their
anti-air missiles. While they were
reloading, Israeli warplanes flew
over and destroyed the Syrian air
defenses. Following this debacle,
the Syrians were defenseless
against the subsequent Israeli
onslaught. The Israeli success
thus aroused worldwide interest in
the use of unmanned technology.

Remote controlled robots are

particularly useful for Three Ds
jobs that are dull, dirty and
dangerous. One potential use
in war (the Packbot) is to disarm
bombs and improvised explosive
devices (IEDs), made famous in the
award-winning movie Hurt Locker.
One astounding fact demonstrates
this: the US advanced from Kuwait
to Baghdad without a single
robot in 2003. Since then, 7000
unmanned aircraft and 12,000
ground robots have been added to
their arsenal. This testifies to the
advantages conferred upon troops
by the use of robots.
Singer postulates that the
current developments of such
warbots can one day dominate

SAF Film Unit

Certainly for the Singapore

Armed Forces, the creation of
UAV Command in the Airforce and
the introduction of Skyblade and
Spartan Scout Unmanned Surface
Vessels (USV) in the Army and
Navy respectively have augmented
our
unmanned
capabilities
too.
This
book
facilitates
discussion pertaining to ongoing
developments and the corollary
issues surrounding this new trend
towards unmanned technologies.

97

Armoured Personnel Carrier

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book review
battlefields. Some examples include
MAARS (Modular Advanced Armed
Robotic System), which can carry
machine guns, grenade launchers
and even non-lethal weapons;
and the UCAV (Unmanned Combat
Aerial Vehicle), which is specially
designed to ultimately replace
human pilots. Ongoing research
will make current robots more
autonomous and independent in
their actions. Such a development
begs several questions: is it going
to be a partnership between
Artificial Intelligence and humans,
a substitution, or some other
forms of working relationship on
the future battlefield? What will
happen as robots become better
armed and more autonomous,
but stop short of the autonomy
found in Issac Asimovs science
fiction works?
Singer argues that rather than
a scenario of robots replacing
humans, it will be a dynamic
team up between the two in the
future. Humans may still remain
in the decision-making loop,
albeit a wider one. However,
this may gradually become more
difficult for humans as weapons
and platforms become too fast,
too numerous and too complex
for us to direct, and control.
In other words, humans may be
excluded as decision loops become
too fast for us to manage. As such,
as the technology matures, the
challenge will be to enable humans
to exercise effective command
and control over these systems.

98

Network-Centric Warfare (NCW)

has been much lauded, thus the
alternative view offered by Singer
on what is the true Revolution
in Military Affairs (RMA) makes
it a refreshing read. Inasmuch as
the links provided by networks
have tried to lift the fog of war,
it will be the linked platforms
that history will rememberthe
robots. As Christopher Coker
comments, We now stand on the
cusp of post-human history. What
Singer is saying that NCW merely
improved the way we do things,
i.e. the manner we collect, process
and disseminate information. But
robotics will change how warriors
think about their weapons and
their fellow soldiers (in this case
robots), while commanders will
wrestle with new dilemmas of
how to fight and how to lead.3
He believes that this is the
true revolution.
One example cited was how
generals can now use information
technology to monitor and
interfere with each tactical
decisions made by smaller subunits, giving them unprecedented
ability to meddle in mission
commanders jobs.4 Unmanned
systems
therefore
intermesh
supervision and micromanagement,
creating
tactical
generals
who can instruct the strategic
corporal on what to do.5
Christopher Coker believes that
the development of technology has
been to make war more humane. It
demonstrates the Wests desire to
humanize war, embrace modernity
and reduce casualties.6 This is also

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characterized by public and political

inability to stomach the sight of
returning body bags from military
misadventures. This perhaps will
continue to drive the growth
of unmanned technologies as
postmodern militaries outsource
dangerous fighting to robots, similar
to the hiring of mercenaries in the
past. Therefore, as robots become a
greater part of an army, the publics
relationship with it will evolve.
It might be easier for them to vote
for military action since less blood
will be shed, causing governments to
be less hesitant to use force rather
than diplomacy to solve conflicts.
As
robotic
technologies
become
cheaper
and
more
common, the military will also
lose its monopolistic control over
unmanned warfare. It would not
be too difficult for non-state
actors to purchase robots off
the shelf, modify and deploy it
in asymmetric warfare against
their larger foes. One frightening
prospect will be the use of
suicide robots, instead of suicide
bombers, to terrorize civilian
populations.

IMPLICATIONS FOR THE SAF

What then can the SAF take
note of, if Singers observations
and predictions are correct?
Robotics
and
unmanned
technologies could be the way,
if not the only way, forward.
This is driven by both technological
progress and societal pressure
(demographic and cultural), as
our society advances.

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First, we need to develop a

coherent doctrine in our employment
of new robotic technology. We may
not see the need now, as such
systems are limited to doing dirty
jobs like clearing explosives.
However, it will be important
when we eventually employ
unmanned platforms with human
operated ones. History has shown
how the Germans combined the
use of radio communications and
tanks, coming up with a doctrine
that enabled them to execute
Blitzkrieg. The British and the
French had similar technologies
but failed to use them in a
coherent manner. The SAF will not
want to repeat their mistakes.
One exciting idea suggested for
the Navy is the use of a mothership
with unmanned aerial vehicles to
patrol the sea, robotic mini-subs to
defend against submarine threats
in littoral waters and attack
surface vessels. Sailors will stay
on the ship behind control stations
while these platforms will extend
the ships sphere of influence.
Another future possibility is
that of soldier-robot sections,
with soldiers giving commands to
robots. Though roboticists such
as Robert Finkelstein predict that
humanoid robots will become
a reality by 2025, the process
will be more of an integration in
armies rather than a replacement
of boots on the ground. With
Singapores demographic challenges,
we can envisage a fighting section
reinforced with armed robots that

99

will augment the firepower and

maneuverability of the section. This
will reduce the number of troopers
needed in our current seven man
section. Such robots can even be
controlled remotely from platforms
like armored fighting vehicles,
further protecting our soldiers
who now fight in a predominantly
urban environment. The vehicle
will function like a mothership that
deploys smaller drones that can
take out the enemy.
We also need to consider
the cultural resistance towards a
greater integration of robots in
our combat units. Unfamiliarity
and a sense of alien foreignness
will be naturally felt while working
shoulder to shoulder with robots.
The greatest resistance may come
from pilots, if one day unmanned
fighter planes outperform human
piloted ones, such as the Boeing
X-45. The very best human pilot
takes 0.3s to react to any simple
stimulus and twice as long to make
a choice between several possible
responses whereas robots take
less than a millionth of a second.

ENDNOTES
1. P. W. Singer, Wired for War: The
Robotics Revolution and Conflict in
the 21st Century (New York: Penguin,
2009)
2. P. W. Singer, Biography, 4
January 2011, http://www.
pwsinger.com/biography.html.
3. Singer, Wired for War, 203-204.
4. Ibid., 349.
5. Ibid., 350.
6. C. Coker, Humane Warfare (London:
Routledge, 2001).

In the long run, the trend ahead

appears to be a greater deployment
of unmanned technologies and
robots. There are many advantages
to this, though various issues
such as doctrine and cultural
resistance have to be worked
out. Robots will not be a deus
ex machina for war, though
their inclusion in armies can
reduce human involvement and
hence casualties. We are still

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a long way from seeing robots

and soldiers working together
intimately on the battlefield.
But if it is likely to happen, now
is the time to start thinking
about it.

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