Conception of future man-machine integrated force

At present, judging from the reform and development of the organizational system in major countries in the world, the army is developing in the direction of being lean, small, efficient, intelligent and "man-machine (robot drone)", seeking laser blast, drones and human soldiers to work side by side and jointly. According to statistics, at present, the armies of more than 60 countries around the world have been equipped with more than 150 kinds of military robots. It is estimated that by 2040, half of the members of the world’s military powers may be robots. In addition to the United States, Russia, Britain, France, Japan, Israel, Turkey, Iran and other countries have successively launched their own robot fighters, other countries have also invested in the research and development of this unmanned weapon.

The world’s military powers will set off a wave of forming unmanned combat troops. The so-called unmanned combat troops are collectively referred to as combat robots or battlefield killing robot systems. With the development of all kinds of information, precision and data weapons and equipment, intelligent platform has become the driving force of pre-designed battlefield, combat robots have become the main force of battlefield, and man-machine combination confrontation has become the key to defeating the enemy. In the future, the space power of battlefield will highlight the three-dimensional unmanned development trend of land, sea and air.

USA Today once published the article "New Robots Bring War to the Next Level: Unmanned War", which describes unmanned war in this way: drone formations flock in, using sophisticated instruments to detect, reconnaissance and counter-reconnaissance. After they lock the target, they calmly launch missiles; Automatic programming of unmanned submarines, performing underwater search, reconnaissance, mine removal and other tasks; On the ground battlefield, robots are responsible for the distribution of ammunition, medical supplies and food … These may become a reality in future wars.

On land, all kinds of robots that can perform specific tasks are mobile strike platforms with high integration of mechanization, informationization and intelligence. For example, an unmanned tank is an unmanned tracked armored platform mainly controlled by its own program, which can be controlled by soldiers remotely, with intelligent weapons and information weapons as the leading factors, and can automatically load ammunition and launch independently, and implement remote indirect precision strikes, effectively reducing the casualty rate of soldiers. In the ocean, all kinds of unmanned submarines and unmanned warships can sail thousands of miles and perform various maritime combat tasks without the control of personnel on board. In the air, the unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) system deployed in actual combat is a kind of UAV system platform with its own reconnaissance and judgment, artificial control, integrated detection and attack, autonomous attack and man-machine cooperation.

The application of UAV weapons in war highlights its combat capability, which will inevitably lead the armies of all countries in the world to form unmanned combat troops in full swing. In the Iraq war, the United States began to test the actual combat capability of unmanned combat vehicles. In March 2013, the United States released a new version of "Robot Technology Roadmap: From Internet to Robot", expounding the development roadmap of robots, including military robots, and decided to invest huge arms research funds in the development of military robots, so that the proportion of unmanned combat equipment of the US military will increase to 30% of the total number of weapons. It is planned that one third of the ground operations in the future will be undertaken by military robots. It is reported that the US military will deploy the first future robot combat brigade (including at least 151 robot soldiers) before 2015. In 2016, in a multinational joint military exercise, the US military conducted a test simulation test on the "modular unmanned combat vehicle" again. In 2020, the Pentagon issued a contract with a price of $11 million to form a "joint arms class" with the cooperative combat capability of human beings and robots, and plans to complete all the construction of 15 future combat brigades by 2030. All class members have the same sense of sight, hearing, touch and smell as people, and can send out information and attack targets in time, and even undertake tasks such as self-maintenance and vehicle maintenance, transportation, mine clearance, reconnaissance and patrol. The US Daily Science website reported that the US Army has developed a new technology that can quickly teach robots to complete new crossing actions with minimal human intervention. According to the report,This technology can make the mobile robot platform navigate autonomously in the combat environment, and at the same time make the robot complete the combat actions that human beings expect it to perform under certain circumstances. At present, US Army scientists hope to cultivate muscle cells and tissues for robots, instead of directly extracting them from living organisms. This combination of muscle and robot reminds me of Grace, a semi-biochemical person in the movie Terminator: Dark Fate.

On April 21, 2018, the special forces of the Russian Federal Security Service (FSB) launched a raid against extremist terrorists in Djerbant, Dagestan, and for the first time publicly dispatched armed unmanned combat vehicles equipped with machine guns to pioneer. In the Red Square parade in Russia in 2018, the United States discovered a large number of "Uranus -9" robots and other combat systems that Russian troops had exchanged fire with Syrian rebels in southern Syria, showing their appearance characteristics to the audience. In August, 2015, the Russian army used the combat robot combat company to carry out a tough battle in the Syrian battlefield. Crawler robots charged, attacked and attracted militants to fire, and guided the self-propelled artillery group to destroy the exposed firepower points one by one. Finally, the robot combat company captured the highland that is difficult for Russian soldiers to capture in one fell swoop in just 20 minutes, and achieved a record of zero casualties and 77 enemies.

According to the website of the British "Star Daily", the British Army conducted a large-scale combat robot test in an activity called "Autonomous Warrior 2018", and unified drones, driverless cars and combatants into the world-class army in the next few decades. Future British autonomous military equipment, whether tanks, robots or drones, may have legs instead of tracks or wheels. At the beginning of 2021, after the "Future Maritime Aviation Force Acceleration Day" was held in Britain, it continued to develop a "plug-and-play" offshore autonomous platform development system, which can simplify the acquisition and use of automation and unmanned technology after being connected to the Royal Navy’s ships.

In addition to Russia, the United States and the United Kingdom, other powerful countries have successively launched their own robot fighters. It is expected that in the next 20 years, the world will surely welcome land, sea and air robots to replace soldiers to perform high-risk tasks, and the future battlefield will surely be unmanned or man-machine integrated joint operations. The world’s military powers will set off an integrated combat test of man-machine (unmanned aerial vehicle)

The style of air combat is always developing and changing with the progress of aviation technology. Since 1917, with the successful development of the world’s first unmanned remote-controlled aircraft in Britain, the unmanned equipment family has also been growing, and various drones have become increasingly active on the stage of modern warfare.

Since the 21st century, with a large number of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) being applied to the battlefield, the combat style has been constantly renovated. In the Gulf War, unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) were only limited to reconnaissance, surveillance and target guidance. However, in the Afghanistan War, the Iraq War and the war on terrorism, the combat capability of UAVs became increasingly prominent, and the combat styles and methods showed new features, which made all countries in the world see the UAV as a sword in the air, thus opening the prelude to the man-machine (UAV) integrated combat test.

It is reported that from 1993 to 2005, the total number of UAVs in NATO countries increased by 1.7 times, and before 2006, the number reached 110,000. The United States, other NATO countries, Israel and South Africa all attach great importance to the development and production of unmanned reconnaissance aircraft and multi-purpose drones.

In 2019, about 30 countries in the world have developed more than 50 types of drones, and more than 50 countries are equipped with drones. Main types: "password" UAV, multifunctional UAV, artificial intelligence UAV, long-term empty UAV, anti-missile UAV, early warning UAV, stealth UAV, micro UAV, air combat UAV, mapping UAV, aerial drone. The main recovery methods: automatic landing, parachute recovery, air recovery and blocking recovery.

On September 14, 2019, after a "world’s largest oil processing facility" and an oil field of Saudi Aramco were attacked, the Houthi armed forces in Yemen announced that they were "responsible for this matter" and claimed that they used 10 drones to attack the above facilities. On January 3rd, 2020, Kassem Sulejmani, commander of "quds force" under the Iranian Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, was "targeted" in a drone raid launched by the United States on the Iraqi capital Baghdad International Airport in the early morning. At the end of 2020, in the battle between Armenia and Azerbaijan in Nagorno-Karabakh (Nagorno-Karabakh region), it was obvious that drones played an important role in the conflict between the two sides. In particular, many military experts are very shocked by the continuous release of videos of TB-2 "Flagman" and Israeli "Harrop" suicide drones just purchased from Turkey attacking Asian armored vehicles, artillery, cars and even infantry positions, and S-300 anti-aircraft missiles. In December 2020, local conflicts in the Middle East and Transcaucasia showed that the role of drones was increasing. Based on this, some militarists even predicted that the 21st century will be the "golden age" for the development of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), and UAVs are bound to completely replace manned fighters and become the "battlefield protagonists" in the 21st century.

At present, the US Air Force plans to expand the manned and unmanned platform team between drones and manned aircraft. By 2025, 90% of fighters will be drones. In other words, larger aircraft (F-35 fighter or F-22 fighter) can control a nearby drone fleet. For example, the F-35 fighter, like a flight sensing computer, can obtain a large amount of data, and make contact, analysis and judgment by itself. Finally, after uploading the conclusion to the helmet display screen of the pilot, the pilot will analyze and process the obtained information, and then make a battle plan according to the battle plan, battlefield situation, weapons equipped by the formation, and then issue it to the UAV … so as to achieve the purpose of manned aircraft commanding the UAV to cooperate in combat. In other words, manned aircraft and drones are mixed to form a formation, which changes the previous ground control into air control of drones, and the pilots directly command drone operations. The U.S. military envisages a modular design, so that soldiers can take out the parts of drones from their backpacks and assemble them when needed in future battlefield operations, and can also use 3D printing drones. In August 2020, the US Air Force defeated the top F-16 fighter pilots in simulated air combat, which also strongly proved that AI pilots can "think" creatively and quickly, and it may not be long before they surpass the skills of human pilots in the future. The US Navy’s new MQ-25 stingray carrier-based unmanned tanker will be tested in 2021, and it will have the initial operational capability in 2024, which is conducive to expanding the operational radius of carrier-based aircraft.

Since 2013, Russia has been equipped with a large number of drones, of which only unmanned reconnaissance planes have exceeded 2,000 by the end of 2019, most of which are light drones, such as the Kalashnikov drone that participated in Syrian military operations. In the next step, each brigade or divisional unit of the Russian Army will be equipped with a drone company, and the airborne troops will also be equipped with a large number of drones. The Russian Northern Fleet will be equipped with unmanned aerial vehicles, and some modern Russian warships will also be equipped with unmanned aerial vehicles. In addition, from 2021 onwards, the "Orion" inspection and combat integrated drone developed by the Kranstadt Group will be equipped with Russian troops. This heavy-duty UAV can carry a variety of guided ammunition and perform combat missions. In addition, the Russian army is still testing two heavy drones, Altair and C-70 Hunter. These are enough to show that Russia has made significant progress in the field of UAV research and development.

Israel is a real pioneer in the field of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs). The UAVs developed are not only advanced, but also exported to other countries. Hundreds of UAVs have been equipped, including the Bird’s Eye series of individual UAVs, the Firefly UAV, the light Skylark -I UAV, the light Hero UAV, the medium Skylark -II/III UAV and the Heron UAV. In the mid-1980s, Israel has developed a land-based launch patrol drone known as "Habi", also known as "Eagle Banshee". "Habi" is a kind of "suicide drone" which can carry out anti-radar attacks independently. It weighs 135 kilograms and can carry 32 kilograms of high explosives with a range of 500 kilometers. Due to confidentiality reasons, the specific number and model of drones equipped by the Israel Defense Forces are not known at present. In order to deal with the enemy’s surface-to-surface missiles and other threatening targets, Israel Aircraft Industry Corporation is developing a stealth unmanned combat aircraft with high altitude and long endurance. The aircraft combines stealth technology with long-range air-to-air missiles, and can carry Moab missiles, penetrate into the rear of enemy war zones, intercept and attack ground-to-ground missiles in the boosting stage.

On February 5, 2013, the British troops stationed in Afghanistan used miniature unmanned helicopters for the first time to carry out the frontline work of spying on military intelligence. This unmanned helicopter is equipped with miniature camera, which can instantly transmit the photographed images to the handheld control terminal. You can fly around corners and avoid obstacles to identify potential dangers. Next, Britain plans to realize that a manned plane can command five drones at the same time. According to the British "Times" website reported on January 26, 2021, the British Ministry of Defence will invest 30 million pounds to develop the first UAV unit in Northern Ireland. According to the report, the contract for designing and manufacturing the prototype has been handed over to the American "bound to be sharp" aviation system company. The company has a branch in Belfast and the contract is expected to provide 100 jobs. The British Ministry of Defence plans to start manufacturing the first prototype of this new drone by 2025. It will be equipped with missile, reconnaissance and electronic warfare technology and equipment, and become the first UAV in the British army that can aim at and shoot down enemy fighters and avoid surface-to-air missile attacks. The manned fighter aircraft with which it is partnered will be able to focus on tasks such as electronic warfare, reconnaissance and bombing, thus reducing the high risks faced by the British crew at a lower cost.

The French Navy will set up the first carrier-based UAV squadron at a base near Toulon, which is the 36F carrier-based squadron of the French Naval Air Force. The squadron will be equipped with S-100 unmanned aerial vehicles, which will be carried on the amphibious landing ship of the northwest wind class of the navy. The formation of the carrier-based UAV squadron reflects the desire of the French navy to integrate UAV expertise into a single professional team. Previously, the French navy discussed the establishment of an exclusive drone squadron and the plan to equip the 31F, 35F or 36F squadron with drones.

在2004年6月举行的巴黎航展上，法国达索飞机制造公司展示的NX70神经元无人作战飞机的全尺寸模型，使人们对欧洲无人机的发展重新产生了兴趣。伊朗、土耳其、阿联酋……一些新的国家打乱了无人机地缘政治格局，正在书写新的一页。

可以预测，无人机必将成为世界各国武器装备发展中的最大亮点，成为21世纪陆战、海战、空战、天战的“撒手锏”，成为攻防作战中一种新生作战力量，既能使用自身携带的多种对地攻击武器对敌前沿和纵深地区地面军事目标进行打击，也能使用空对地导弹或炸弹对敌防空武器实施压制；既能使用反坦克导弹等武器对敌坦克或坦克群进行攻击，也能使用集束炸弹等武器对敌地面部队进行轰炸；既能发现目标、判断目标价值后就可自主发射导弹，也能对敌方指挥控制系统进行欺骗干扰，等等。世界军事强国将掀起组建“人机（机器人无人机）”一体部队争锋

随着军民融合的深度推进，人工智能技术的突飞猛进，大数据、云计算、物联网的日新月异，不仅给无人化武器装备发展带来巨大变革，而且还将颠覆现有军队力量组建形态，“人机（机器人无人机）”一体化智能型军队必将到来。

In December 2015, in addition to sending traditional combat forces on the Syrian battlefield, the Russian army also sent a robot combat company based on an unmanned combat platform to participate in the battle for the first time. The company adopted a new combat mode of manned and unmanned mixed formation, built an intelligent combat system with Andromeda -D automatic command system as the core, and launched an attack on the 754.5 highland by combining full-dimensional reconnaissance with saturation attack, successfully occupying the highland. A few years ago, US Navy officials in charge of expeditionary operations mentioned the vision of building thousands of man-machine combined warships, that is, a larger fleet controlled by human beings and composed of unmanned ships that cooperate with each other. The US Navy announced that it plans to build an unmanned fleet consisting of 10 large unmanned surface ships in the next five years for independent operations or joint operations with surface forces. According to the concept currently disclosed by the US Navy, the unmanned fleet composed of large unmanned surface ships will mainly assist the Navy to complete highly dangerous combat missions. By combining with the Aegis combat system and other sensors, the cooperative combat capability of manned and unmanned systems will be enhanced, and its deployment will help reduce the number of large manned warships and reduce casualties in combat. On January 20, 2021, Michael Gier Day, Secretary of Naval Operations of the United States, released the document "Navigation Plan of the Secretary of Naval Operations" on January 11, calling for the establishment of a man-machine mixed fleet including large warships, unmanned ships, submarines and air raid equipment, so as to prepare for global operations in the new threat environment in the coming decades.The document reads: "It is necessary to build a larger fleet of underwater, surface and water platforms that meet the strategic and operational needs of the troops."

In the "man-machine (robot drone)" integrated unit, the "man-machine" organic combination is achieved by artificial intelligence technology, and the "man-machine" cooperative combat plan is drawn up by cloud computing, new algorithms and big data. Artificial intelligence is like an engine, big data+cloud computing is like a spaceship, and intelligent robots are astronauts. The organic combination of the three will definitely add wings to the tiger and integrate man and machine. In the future, the army will be a man-machine combination army, and the platoon leader will be gradually replaced by robots. Robots will gradually change from human control to autonomous decision-making by robots, or robots will control their ideas through people’s brain vesicles. There may also be barracks without canteens in military camps, and there may also be many or even dozens of intelligent robot teams with different division of tasks led by one or several military personnel to complete the battle training management tasks jointly completed by the previous squadrons. Or there is only one military commander in the command and control center in military training, and all intelligent robots in the training ground are controlled by video to conduct confrontation training, or the commander of the remote control robot issues new training instructions, adjusts task deployment and changes the training ground in real time.

The urgent demand for the intelligence quality of military talents will also force the readjustment of the first-class military disciplines in the field of artificial intelligence. In the future, military academies will also set up intelligent robot control disciplines, establish laboratories and training bases for man-machine integration, and focus on training intelligent professional military talents who not only know computer control procedures, intelligent design and management, image cognition, data mining and knowledge maps, but also systematically master intelligence science and technology and have innovative consciousness. In the future, military talents must be proficient in intelligent technology, big data application and cloud computing, especially in making all kinds of military equipment by using 3D or 4D printing technology at any time, mastering the control program, command mode, instruction issuing and task adjustment of intelligent robots, and mastering the essentials of man-machine integration and autonomous combat coordination, so as to achieve the best combination of human information technology quality and efficient operation of intelligent robots. In addition, it does not rule out the establishment of man-machine combined platoon company, combat simulation center, imaginary enemy troops, combat detachment, intelligent command, unmanned brigade, division and so on. At that time, the military chief may also have one man and one machine or a robot as a hand or deputy.