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Autonomous Weapon Systems (AWS)

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The Palgrave Encyclopedia of Global Security Studies

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Definition

Autonomous weapon systems (AWS) are reusable weapon systems and smart munitions that can be differentiated from all the existing weapons by their full autonomy. It is based on (a) their ability to operate without human control or supervision in dynamic, unstructured and/or open environments; (b) their ability to engage in autonomous (lethal) decision-making, targeting and force; and (c) their ability to engage in defensive and/or offensive combat (Sharkey 2010, p. 370, 2012, p. 787; Asaro 2012, p. 690; Kastan 2013, p. 49; Open Letter 2015; Altmann and Sauer 2017, p. 118). These capabilities technologically build upon advances in Artificial Intelligence (AI), in particular Machine Learning (ML), and especially Deep Learning (DL) and Artificial Neural Networks (ANNs) (O’Connell 2014, p. 526; Walsh 2015, p. 2; Gadiyar et al. 2019).

Weapons with various degrees of autonomy are widely present on the modern battlefield; however, fully autonomous ones “do not yet exist” (Walsh 2015...

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Acknowledgments

Anzhelika Solovyeva gratefully acknowledges funding for this work from Charles University, SVV Grant “Political Order in the Times of Changes” (SVV 260 595). Nik Hynek gratefully acknowledges funding for this work from Charles University, UNCE Grant “Human-Machine Nexus and Its Implications for International Order” (UNCE/HUM/037).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Institute of Political Studies, Faculty of Social Sciences, Charles University, Prague, Czech Republic

    Anzhelika Solovyeva

  2. Department of Security Studies, Faculty of Social Sciences, Charles University, Prague, Czech Republic

    Nik Hynek

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  1. Anzhelika Solovyeva
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  2. Nik Hynek
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Correspondence to Anzhelika Solovyeva .

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  1. University of Alberta, Alberta, AB, Canada

    Scott Romaniuk

  2. University for Peace, San Jose, Costa Rica

    Manish Thapa

  3. Nemzetkozi Tanulmanyok Intezet, Rm 503, Corvinus Univ, Inst of Intl Studies, Budapest, Hungary

    Péter Marton

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Solovyeva, A., Hynek, N. (2020). Autonomous Weapon Systems (AWS). In: Romaniuk, S., Thapa, M., Marton, P. (eds) The Palgrave Encyclopedia of Global Security Studies. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-74336-3_636-1

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-74336-3_636-1

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