‘Terminator’ troops to be ‘bred like cattle to kill’ in terrifying super-soldier arms race
GLOBAL superpowers are creating the next generation of super solider that could be “bred like cattle” to kill.
Experts told The Sun Online how DNA manipulation, bionic augmentation, and advanced robotics could all soon become commonplace on the battlefield.
It comes as France became one of the first countries to announce it is openly developing “augmented soldiers“.
And meanwhile, Donald Trump’s director of national intelligence, John Radcliffe, claimed China has already conducted tests on soldiers with the aim of developing biologically enhanced soldiers.
He warned there are “no ethical boundaries” in Beijing’s efforts to create the world’s first real super soldiers.
LIVING WEAPONS
Experts have revealed all of the countries in the western world are already planning their own super soldiers.
And one report suggested such experiments could lead to a new species, which the experts dubbed “homo robocopus”.
Superpowers are using robotics and even experimenting with manipulating squaddies’ DNA to give them enhanced strength and speed.
Michael Clarke, visiting professor in war studies at Kings College London (KCL), warned how countries could be using DNA as a farmer would in a herd of cattle.
We will still be worrying about it in 30 years’ time, but the Chinese will just have done it.
Professor Michael Clarke
He told The Sun Online: “We’ve reached the point now where we could potentially manipulate people’s DNA to breed into them extra strength, endurance and other things just as we do with animals.
“Just as we’ve done with standard cattle to give them more back, we can do that now very precisely with humans.”
And Prof Clarke, a former specialist advisor to the House of Commons Defence Committee, said this is fuelling the biological race, with countries fearing what China may be able to produce in the near future.
He said: “What they’re all thinking about is what might come up in 30 years’ time, given another 10 years development and experimentation.
“The Chinese in 30 years’ time might have a cohort of people who are 20 years-old who’ve got particular characteristics they might have tried to breed into them by manipulating DNA.”
How do you make a living weapon?
Brain microchips – France has been given the all-clear to develop micro chips to enhance soldier brain power
Bionic eye – Hong Kong University of Science believe their Electro-Chemical Eye will soon be better than the real thing, giving users infrared and night vision
Super hearing – The US’s Tactical Communication and Protective System are smart earbuds which boost soldiers’ hearing to be near superhuman
Health implant – DARPA, the Pentagon’s research arm, is developing cyborg implants to monitor combat efficiency
Enhanced limbs – A Devcom report revealed plans to equip US soldiers with enhanced limbs for increased strength
Exoskeleton legs – The US Army has tested an exoskeleton which can be attached to soldier’s legs and can increase their productivity by up to 27 times
Synthetic blood – Respirocyte is a theoretical red blood cell that could help soldiers not get out of breath and stay underwater for hours
Pain immunity – DARPA’s Persistence in Combat initiative would allow soldiers to have their pain suppressed for 30 days
Prof Clarke added that giving troops “more strength and endurance would be the easiest thing to give them in terms of altering DNA sequences.”
The expert explained these future soldiers could also be immune to disease and feelings.
One recent report, by the International Society for Military Ethics in Europe, talks of bionic men capable of fighting “all the time”.
It states: “Enhanced soldiers would be reduced to bionic men, who run fast, do not need sleep, eat and drink very little, and can fight all the time.
“A new species is born: Homo robocopus.”
Other recent advances have seen soldiers fitted with exoskeletons to improve strength and speed, as well as having microchips injected into their skin to monitor their heart rate and battlefield performance.
But Sir Lawrence Freedman, Professor of war studies at KCL, believes advancements in robotics and prosthetics will prove even more important.
He said: “There are people going back into combat in ways they wouldn’t have been able to before because prosthetics have been improved.
“You can use Google glasses, there’s lots of things you can now do with a modern soldier that makes them much more effective than they were in the past.
“If you want people to act just according to orders going in to great danger, the other trend you can see that is pretty active at the moment is drones, autonomous vehicles and so on.
“You don’t need bionic humans, you just need robotics.”
France gave the nod to the super soldier proposals in a report published by its armed forces ministry last Tuesday.
The plans aim to improve “physical, cognitive, perceptive and psychological capacities,” and could allow for location tracking or connectivity with weapons systems and other soldiers.
Among the ministry’s research were drugs to keep troops awake for long periods of time and combat stress, and even surgery to improve hearing.
‘WE HAVE TO PREPARE’
Any move towards creating the ‘bionic’ soldiers would have to be made while respecting the humanitarian law, added the report from the 18-strong committee of ethical experts.
Modifications that would affect a soldier’s ability to manage the use of force, affect their sense of humanity or stop them going back to civilian life are banned.
French armed forces minister Florence Parly said “invasive” augmentations such as implants are not currently part of military plans.
“But we have to be clear, not everyone has the same scruples as us and we have to prepare ourselves for such a future,” she said.
The French report follows remarks made by US intelligence chief Mr Ratcliffe the Wall Street Journal, about China’s threat to the US and world democracy.
Ratcliffe claimed that U.S. intelligence “shows that China has even conducted human testing on members of the People’s Liberation Army in hope of developing soldiers with biologically enhanced capabilities”.
“There are no ethical boundaries to Beijing’s pursuit of power,” he added.
The US has also invested millions in developing an advanced implant that would allow a human brain to communicate directly with computers, with experts suggesting it could augment military performance.
Last year, the Pentagon released previously classified documents that revealed cyborg soldiers could be a reality by 2050.
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It set out how the US hopes to create a “human/machine” fushion which could “augment and enhance human perfoamcne over the next 30 years”.
According to the report, efforts would “offer the potential to incrementally enhance performance beyond the normal human baseline.”
And troopers’ brains could be hooked up to computers to improve their thinking power and allow them to control unmanned vehicles with their thoughts.