THE United States has long been on the forefront of cutting-edge weapons of war.

Now, the country which first developed the atomic bomb is testing and developing weapons which sound like they’ve been plucked straight out of a science-fiction movie.

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Washington is developing AI-controlled drones, reports sayCredit: AP:Associated Press

Yesterday, the US Navy announced it had tested a laser weapon which destroyed a floating target in the Gulf of Aden in the Middle East.

The laser, which was fired from battle cruiser USS Portland, could be used to obliterate bomb-laden drone boats deployed by Houthi rebels backed by Iran in Yemen.

Last year, the same laser brought down a flying drone, it has been reported.

Another terrifying weapon the US and its rivals China and Russia are developing is attack drones controlled using Artificial Intelligence.

Washington helped pioneer drone technology which has been used to kill terrorists, and in some unfortunate cases civilians, in war zones such as Afghanistan and Syria as well as terror hot spots such as Somalia.

Traditionally, the weapons are unmanned planes which are controlled remotely by pilots in another location.

However, AI-controlled killing machines – reminiscent of the Hollywood techno-horror film The Terminator – have already become a reality.

In Libya last year, strongman leader Khalifa Haftar’s soldiers were hunted down and killed by a Turkish autonomous drone, the United Nations said.

The robot drones use image-recognition and autopilot software and can be produced relatively cheaply, reports the Washington Post.

And while 30 countries have pledged support for a total ban on autonomous weapons – the likes of the US and Russia have reportedly pushed back against such concerns.

Turkey is using AI-controlled quadcopters to patrol its border with Syria, reports say.

In September, Azerbaijan used both Turkish and Israeli-made “loitering munitions” to invade Armenian territory.

These “loitering munitions” can patrol an area using AI, with no human assistance, and automatically “dive-bomb” enemy radar signals, the Post reports.

Activists are now calling on Joe Biden to end the development of these nightmarish weapons.

Nick Mottern, of campaign group Ban Killer Drones, told The Intercept: “It appears that Biden is carrying forward with development of a variety of drone aircraft that will be more and more guided by AI until we cross the threshold into full AI-controlled attacks.

ROBOT DRONES

“This process has to be stopped, and the only way to stop it is to ban weaponised drones.”

Meanwhile, China is assembling a devastating nuclear arsenal with an array of hypersonic missiles, “humpback” submarines and hidden desert silos.

Beijing has ramped up military preparations this year amid simmering tensions with Washington.

Satellite images reported by NPR show a new tunnel being dug in China’s Lop Nur nuclear test site, where China has tested nuclear weapons in the past.

The Communist Party regime and a host of other world governments committed to a nuclear testing moratorium in the 1990s – and has not conducted full scale nuclear testing since.

However, China and other nations including the US have continued to test nonnuclear components of nuclear weapons underground.

WEAPONS FROM HELL

Recent analysis of China’s newly commissioned nuclear-powered submarine also suggests it is capable of hitting the US mainland.

A source told the South China Morning Post that the Type 094A, also known as the Jin-class nuclear-powered ballistic missile submarine (SSBN), is capable of firing the JL-3 ‘Big Wave’ missile with a range of over 10,000km.

Drew Thompson, a former US Defense Department official, told CNN that China’s nuclear capabilities were evolving slowly.

He said: “China’s nuclear force posture has evolved steadily over the past 10 years with road-mobile missile launchers recently joined by the nuclear-capable H-6N bomber, a new submarine-launched ballistic missile, and a growing number of static silos, giving China an increasingly robust and survivable nuclear triad.”

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Laser weapons could be used to shoot down aerial drones as well as attack boatsCredit: AP

Source: https://www.the-sun.com/news/4284269/us-new-weapons-ai-drones-lasers/