GoKawiilA hot potato: The US is adding another autonomous weapons system to its growing arsenal of similar tools. While the AI platform is designed to take down drones, it also appears capable of autonomously targeting ground targets, including humans, though its maker says an operator must issue the command to fire.
The Marine Corps has selected Allen Control Systems' Bullfrog M240 robotic weapon station for integration into its Light Marine Air Defense Integrated System, or L-MADIS. The initial prototype contract is worth $6.2 million.
Bullfrog combines artificial intelligence, computer vision, and precision robotics with an M240 7.62mm machine gun. The 300-pound platform can detect, identify, track, and acquire targets autonomously before presenting them to an operator for firing approval.
While the company emphasizes that human must give the final confirmation, almost every other part of the kill chain is handled by software. It also means human oversight is being limited into a single decision that could be made under pressure and based largely on what the AI says it sees.
Allen Control Systems markets Bullfrog as a counter-drone system, but footage published by the company shows it switching from aerial objects to targets on the ground. There appear to be no visible software protections preventing it from identifying people as targets.
The M240 version fires up to 850 rounds per minute, has an effective range of 800 meters (2,624 feet), and can engage Group 1 through Group 3 drones.
What's especially appealing to the Marines is that it can be fitted to existing military platforms, addressing the expensive problem of using missiles costing hundreds of thousands of dollars to destroy cheap drones. ACS claims the cost per kill can be as low as $10.
The US Army and Navy are already deploying Bullfrog systems, while other variants support the M2 .50-caliber machine gun, M230 chain gun, and M134 minigun. The Marines plan to add it to L-MADIS, a mobile counter-drone platform based on two Polaris MRZR all-terrain vehicles.
Pentagon policy requires autonomous and semi-autonomous weapons to allow commanders and operators to exercise appropriate human judgment over force. Bullfrog appears to meet that standard because a person authorizes each shot, but the final button press means little when AI selects, tracks, and recommends the target.
It was previously reported that the Pentagon plans to deploy thousands of AI-powered autonomous systems to counter China. We've also heard plenty about the growing role of AI in identifying targets during the Iran conflict.
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