Russia is building an army of robotic weapons backed by Chinese AI tech. The array of autonomous weapons is entirely being built by Russia and China is aiding the aggressive unmanned military tech with AI brains.
The Russian army has unveiled the new Uran-9 Unmanned Combat Ground Vehicle (one from the larger arsenal being built) in a short video where it could be seen passing through obstacles on its own without any human supervision. It not only performed attacks on the enemies, but the Uran-9 also provided the Russian soldiers with cover while pacing towards the enemy lines.
Russia making use of AI tech in their weapon systems was highlighted in a report “Artificial Intelligence and Autonomy in Russia” as it holds greater significance in modern warfare. America didn’t seem so pleased by the collaborated move. The report on these new weapons got published by CNA nonprofit research and analysis group located in Arlington, Virginia. The authors of the report worked in close collaboration with the Pentagon’s Joint Artificial Intelligence Center to bring out what they called “the first major piece of US research that articulates contemporary Russia’s main initiatives, achievements, and accomplishments in AI and autonomy efforts and places those initiatives within the broader technological landscape in Russia.”
“Russian military strategists have placed a premium on establishing what they refer to as ‘information dominance on the battlefield,'” stated the report, “and AI-enhanced technologies promise to take advantage of the data available on the modern battlefield to protect Russia’s own forces and deny that advantage to the adversary.”
Building an army of robotic weapons and giving all the control to AI to make decisions on the battlefield comes with challenges and is crucial in a lot of ways. However, Russia is heading just in the right direction to gain that sort of control through AI systems from China that are supporting their military tech. While focusing on Russia’s new weapon arsenal, the report also holds a key emphasis on the Chinese collaboration in the field of AI specifically.
US sanctions haven’t proven effective this time around in suppressing their enemies as the collaboration between Russia and China to build advanced military tech is proving strong grounds while the US only keeps an eye on these advancements. One of the advisors behind the report Samuel Bendett and the member of the CNA (Center for Autonomy and AI) referred that most of this recent China and Russia partnering to build autonomous weapons system took place outside of the defense sector, opening doors for both the nations to cooperate with each other to gain significant military might. Meanwhile gaining the AI tech from China, Russia is also aiding China to build effective early warning systems for incoming missiles.
Senior research scientist Jeffrey Edmonds said, “From the Russian perspective, the rapprochement between the two countries has been one of the most consistent trends in Russian foreign policy for several decades. What we are seeing is that defense cooperation is deepening, but also seemingly becoming more secretive.”
The report by Bendett and Edmonds contains a list of about two dozen AI-based platforms being built by the Russian Military partnering with China. The list includes military tech for land, air, and sea operations which have left the US in worry of the collaborated military might of the two nations.