It looks like something out of the dystopian show “Black Mirror,” but it’s just the latest adaptation of robotics for the modern battlefield. During recent military drills with Cambodia, China’s military showed off a robot dog with an automatic rifle mounted on its back, essentially turning man’s best (electronic) friend into a futuristic weapon. “It can serve as a new member in our urban combat operations, replacing our human members to conduct reconnaissance and identify the enemy and strike the target,” a soldier identified as Chen Wei says in a video from state broadcaster CCTV. The two-minute video made during the China-Cambodia “Golden Dragon 2024” exercise also shows the robot dog walking, hopping, lying down and moving backwards under the control of a remote operator. In one drill, the rifle-firing robot leads an infantry unit into a simulated building. The latter part of the video also shows an automatic rifle mounted under a six-rotor aerial drone. Military use of robot dogs and small aerial drones is nothing new. A CCTV video from last year also highlighted China’s rifle-armed electronic canines in a joint exercise involving the Chinese, Cambodian, Lao, Malaysian, Thai and Vietnamese militaries held last November. In 2020, the U.S. Air Force demonstrated how it used robotic dogs as one link in its Advanced Battle Management System (ABMS), which uses artificial intelligence and rapid data analytics to detect and counter threats to soldiers. And since the Russian-Ukraine conflict broke out in 2022, drones have become commonplace on the battlefield, on the land, sea and air, with cheap remotely controlled vehicles able to knock out sophisticated military machines like tanks and even warships. The lethal abilities of drones seen on the Ukraine battlefields have shown them to be a game changer. Despite export controls on certain types of drones, China is still one of the world’s leading drone exporters. The robot dogs have been popping up on China’s social media for a year. “Usually, a new gadget will not be brought into a joint exercise with another country, so the robot dogs must have reached a certain level of technical maturity,” the Beijing-based Global Times quoted an unnamed expert as saying. (SD-Agencies) Words to Learn 相关词汇 【步兵】bùbīng infantry the part of an army that fights on foot 【司空见惯】sīkōng jiànguàn commonplace ordinary 这看起来像是乌托邦剧《黑镜》里的东西,但其实这只是机器人技术在现代战场上的最新应用。 在最近与柬埔寨的联合军事演习中,中国军方展示了一种背上装有自动步枪的机器狗,人类最好的朋友变成了先进武器。 “它可以作为我们城市作战行动中的新成员,代替我们的士兵进行侦察、识别敌人并打击目标,”在中央电视台的一段视频中,一位名叫陈伟的士兵说。 这段两分钟的视频是在中柬“金龙2024”演习期间拍摄的,视频中还显示了机器狗在远程操作员的控制下行走、跳跃、卧倒和向后移动的过程。 在一次演习中,步枪射击机器狗带领一支步兵部队进入模拟建筑物。 视频的后半部分还展示了安装在六旋翼无人机下的自动步枪。 军方使用机器狗和小型无人机并非新鲜事。去年11月,在中国、柬埔寨、老挝、马来西亚、泰国和越南军队参加的一次联合演习中,央视的一段视频也重点展示了装备步枪的机器狗。 2020 年,美国空军展示了如何利用机器狗作为其先进战斗管理系统(ABMS)的一个环节,该系统利用人工智能和快速数据分析来探测和应对士兵面临的威胁。 自2022年俄乌冲突爆发以来,无人机在海陆空战场上已变得司空见惯,便宜的遥控飞行器可以击毁坦克甚至军舰等精密军事机器。在乌克兰战场上看到的无人机的致命能力表明,它们可以改变游戏规则。 尽管某些类型的无人机受到出口管制,但中国仍然是世界上主要的无人机出口国之一。 一年来,社交媒体上不断出现机器狗的身影。 总部位于北京的《环球时报》援引一位不愿透露姓名的专家的话说:“通常情况下,一种新装备不会被带入与他国的联合演习中,因此机器狗必定达到了相当的技术成熟度。” (Translated by Debra) |