Robotic War Ships

[mem]

Sorry for the double post but I can't edit yet. The quote should have been ZenGum's post

[lookout123]

Wow, I'm not sure if we want to use this contractor for our robot ships.

http://www.switched.com/2007/10/19/n...00010000000001

[ZenGum]

I just wanted to endorse the link in lookout's post.

Holy !!

[Elspode]

You guys worry way too much. I'm sure a good-hearted 15 year old savant working on the project from his advanced research positions in DARPA will realize that he wants to live so that he can marry his new girlfriend he met between late night work sessions in the campus rumpus room, and he'll change out the control chip at the last moment so that the crazed robots attack the Pentagon instead, and we'll all live happily ever after.

[ZenGum]

Alas, I must retract my endorsement of Lookout's link.
New Scientist ( http://technology.newscientist.com/a...or-deaths.html ) suggests it was simply a mechanical malfunction, rather than being anything to do with a computer going haywire. The gun still (normally) requires a human in the loop to give the fire order.
I'm sure the mothers of the nine dead feel much better about this now.

Initial reports from a South African newspaper say the Oerlikon 35mm Mk5 anti-aircraft twin-barrelled gun jammed while firing. A female soldier tried to free the shell, but another shell was accidentally fired, causing some rounds in the gun's two near-full ammunition magazines to explode. The gun began firing again and swung in a circle, leaving nine soldiers dead and eleven wounded.