The Army will be sending these to Iraq in April or May of this year:
It’s a robot. An armed robot.
It’s called the SWORDS, short for Special Weapons Observation Reconnaissance Detection System, and (get this) was a joint development project between the Army and Foster-Miller, a robotics firm bought in November by QinetiQ Group PLC—which is a partnership between the British Ministry of Defence and the Washington holding company The Carlyle Group.
Yes, that’s right: this Carlyle Group, the subject of a number of particularly juicy conspiracy theories, with the verifiable membership of George Bush Sr., James Baker, John Major, and some fairly disturbing connections to the Bin Laden family.
Anyone else scared yet?
I dunno, but it’s giving me a Shadowrun stiffy. That should be bad, shouldn’t it? :)
Looks rather like the latest version of Wheelbarrow — the bomb-disposal bot the British army have used for years — but with a machine gun on top rather than a slower-firing weapon.
Can John Shirley’s jaegernauts be far behind?
Well, yeah, maybe a little scared… but also thinking, “COOL robot!”
Anyone else scared yet?
Whaddya mean “yet?”