Northropgrumman.com
The Next Generation Of Military Drones May Not Be Controlled By Humans -- The Atlantic
Northrop Grumman is developing a next-level drone aircraft that not only flies without a pilot onboard, but without any human controlling it from the ground. The Los Angeles Times has the story of the X-47B, an experimental plan which could be the first "unmanned aircraft system" to carry out missions guided only by on-board computers. While they would still require a human to program flight plans and targets, it may eventually lead to that future of sci-fi nightmares when heavily-armed robots patrol the skies, making decisions (and dropping bombs) without human interference.
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Update: New drone has no pilot anywhere, so who's accountable? -- L.A. Times
My Comment: I guess the lawyers will be the ones who will be held accountable .... which means no one. Fortunately .... for now ... I do not see that happening. But as software and drone reliability gets better .... the temptation to have a program responsible for initiating drone strikes will become irrisitable for those who do not want to be responsible for issuing the kill orders against enemy combatants.