_{Source.The Robot Combat Vehicle - Medium.}

In this article: Blog Intro, Drones

Introduction

Hello Hivers! I figured this would be a good way to introduce my blog and what I plan to produce, among other things, for the next 9 years here on hive. I plan on posting news related to The Fourth Industrial Revolution, as it matures, approaching the year 2030. I'll try to post an article daily with 1 or more news stories about advances in physical, digital, and biological technology. In addition, I'll be following climate change as its effects become more pronounced.

I expect, as the years go by, that the news is going to get more and more dystopian, but I'm hoping our community here on the HIVE blockchain will do alright to 2030 and beyond.

Meet the Robot Combat Vehicle (RCV) line of drones

_{Source. The Robot Combat Drones - Medium, Heavy, and Light. Very original.}

The United States has employed the use of unmanned vehicles for reconnaissance and combat since the Vietnam War. Most people around the world are familiar with the massive ramp up of aerial drone operations since the beginning of The War on Terror. However, we don't often see much reporting of drones on the ground.

The most I have seen is the remote control Explosives and Ordinance Disposal (EOD) bots with the tracks and arm, and I recall seeing a drone that was similar to the EOD bots, but it was equipped with an M249 light machine gun. Now it looks like they are running vehicle sized ground drones through their paces in an effort to modernize ground forces.

Per this Congressional Research Service Report, the Army plans on "employing RCVs as 'scouts' and 'escorts' for manned
fighting vehicles to deter ambushes and to guard the flanks
of mechanized formations." These drones will be controlled by soldiers riding in a Next Generation Combat Vehicle (NGCV), maybe the Optionally Manned Fighting Vehicle describe in this Army.mil article.

Further still, the Army hopes to upgrade these machines with improved navigation and AI so that a single soldier can control several at once, perhaps through some kind of wearable, or brain chip😉. Ultimately, the goal for the Army is to make these things fully autonomous, real life hunter killer robots.

Why do I care about drones?

_Source

Equipment used by the military in foreign wars usually finds its way home to be deployed by law enforcement to oppress the people. Maybe, you have seen NYPD strutting around with the Boston Dynamics robot dog.
Major General Ross Coffman, in an interview with The National Interest stated, "RCVs are payload agnostic. We can have counter-drone, we can have smoke, sensors, and lethality. We can have anything that you can imagine on the battlefield on a robot. That is exciting stuff." I can imagine these robots being deployed in the streets equipped with tear gas grenades, sonic and microwave crowd deterrents, OC paint balls, rubber bullets, and flash bangs. If you protest, expect to someday go up against machines, like the RCV-L, instead of humans.