Many people have questioned what the future of warfare will be like, or wondered what the soldier of the future will look like. Will the soldier of the future; enter into battle cocooned inside a protective suit of armour laden with gadgets, like the Marvel comic book and film character Iron Man; enter into battle in a virtual sense by piloting a remotely controlled device; or fight merely by managing attacks against the enemy’s computer systems through cyber-warfare? Members of the School of HASS are examining some of the ethical issues which might be raised by new technologies which are currently being developed, or have recently been adopted, for military use. Some new technologies might be thought to lower the political cost of war and thus raise questions about when it is, and is not, ethically justified to go to war, issues that are being examined by researchers such as Tony Burke, Toni Erskine, and Ned Dobos. Technologies which cause new or novel problems for military personnel in combat raise different ethical issues, and these are being examined by researchers such as Toni Erskine, Stephen Coleman, Deane Baker, Lindsay Clark and Tim Aistrope.

• Read our Capability Statement on Military and Security Ethics
• Read our Capability Statement on Special Operations