The Fear of AI-Controlled and Other New Weapons Technology Leads Germany to Call for Global Disarmament

December 1, 2018 – In a surprising announcement today, Germany’s Foreign Minister called for global disarmament on advanced, sophisticated weapon systems empowered by artificial intelligence. Heiko Maas wants to launch an initiative to stop what is described in science fiction as becoming a deadly reality in the near future.

In an interview with the Neue Osnabrücker Zeitung, the Minister stated in reference to weapon systems, “for a long time now it’s not just about conventional rockets and bombs, but also about bits and bytes.” His concern includes autonomous weapons that kill without human control.

Maas called for a global rethink on disarmament that closes the loopholes currently allowing for more sophisticated weapon system development. He also wanted China to be included in the development of a global “rethinking of disarmament policy.” 

For Maas, this is about the survival of humanity and comes after Donald Trump announced his plans to terminate the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces (INF) Treaty with the former Soviet Union and today’s Russia. The Americans have pointed to Russian new weapons development in this classification as the justification for Trump’s announcement. But the action may yield a very different result, opening a Pandora’s Box of new deadly weapons capable of flying at hypersonic speeds, armed with nuclear explosives, and able to choose targets to attack. 

The status of the INF treaty is to be discussed this week at a NATO foreign ministers’ meeting in Brussels. Maas wants to use this meeting to begin working on a new global arms control treaty so that Europe doesn’t find itself in the middle of a nuclear confrontation between U.S. and Russian forces armed to the teeth with INF-banned as well as other weapons. Maas also wants China in the discussion because that country is building sophisticated intermediate and long-range missiles with similar capability.

About the INF Treaty 

The treaty was an agreement between the U.S. and Soviet Union to eliminate permanently all land-based and cruise missiles with targeting ranges from 50o to 5,500 kilometers (310 to 3,400 miles). It was the first treaty between the two superpowers to reduce their nuclear arsenals and it led to the two countries destroying almost 2,700 short, medium, and intermediate-range missiles in 1991.

But in the last decade, the U.S. has accused Russia of violating INF treaty a number of times having discovered new Russian cruise missiles that fit the INF descriptions and that are undetectable by enemy radar. A few months ago Vladimir Putin bragged about a number of these new Russian weapon systems.

Neither country is totally honest about INF compliance. Using the glaring loophole that applied only to land-based missiles, both countries have developed sea and air-based missiles within the range limits described in the treaty. And now both countries, along with China, are developing new types of weapon systems that are self-guided, that use railguns and electromagnetic launchers, and that can attack targets deemed to be within the INF defined ranges.

The latest U.S. move involves the authorization of $58 million USD to fund active defenses to counter INF-range missiles and to develop countervailing strike capabilities. One of the projects is a giant cannon designed to hurl a smart shell over 1,600 kilometers (1,000 miles). The ordinance being considered for this cannon is nuclear and capable of yielding the equivalent of a 100-tons of conventional explosive. The U.S. has also developed a 499-kilometer Precision Strike Missile to stay one kilometer under the INF treaty limits. It should be no surprise, therefore, that Russia is making counterclaims that the U.S. is also in violation of the INF treaty.

That’s why German Foreign Minister Maas has declared it is time for all nations of the world to sit down and hammer out a new disarmament agreement and do it quickly before new missile, artillery, and battlefield weapon systems become more lethal, and even learn to kill without human intervention or oversight. I don’t think anyone hearing about this announcement today, coming from the mouth of a German government minister, can not see the irony of it considering Germany’s 20th-century history.