Towards a Working Definition of ‘Weapons Autonomy’ and LAWS Sample Clauses

Towards a Working Definition of ‘Weapons Autonomy’ and LAWS. Taken together, the above points to ‘weapons autonomy’ as a feature that encompasses humans being out of the loop; in the (primary and/or secondary) critical functions of a weapon system; with those functions being performed by software controllers that are able to exercise discretion; in a potentially complex and unstructured environment. With these in mind, the following working definition of LAWS is proposed: A weapon system which, once activated, can select and engage targets without further human intervention and usually without any human pre- selecting those specific targets; and, in the process, to exercise discretion and self-direction to operate in a potentially complex and unstructured environment.72 At first sight, this may seem like a highly restrictive definition which, if all elements are to be cumulatively met, might overly narrow the scope of weapons autonomy. As mentioned above, however, an underlying concern is to maintain a humanitarian focus; together with the italicised words in the definition, this arguably provides appropriate flexibility. Thus, even in a targeted strike,73 where the specific target is pre-selected by humans, residual machine ‘discretion’ on choice of munition and timing of weapons release will retain the autonomous nature of the deployment, thereby requiring appropriate precautions by deploying commanders.74