37 2 EXTENSIVE LITERATURE REVIEW a literal sense. Machines are only “autonomous” with respect to certain functions such as navigation, sensor optimization, or fuel management.’ (Kuptel & Williams, 2014, p. 10). The United Nations Institute for Disarmament Research (UNDIR) is also cautious about providing a definition of Autonomous Weapon Systems, because they argue that the level of autonomy depends on the ‘critical functions of concern and the interactions of different variables’ (UNDIR, 2014, p. 5). They state that one of the reasons for the differentiation of terms regarding Autonomous Weapon Systems is that sometimes things (drones or robots) are defined, but in other times a characteristic (autonomy), variables of concern (lethality or degree of human control) or usage (targeting or defensive measures) are drawn into the discussion and become part of the definition. In a recent paper, Taddeo and Blanchard (2022) describe twelve definitions of (Lethal) Autonomous Weapon Systems provided by States and international organisations. They provide a value neutral definition of Autonomous Weapon Systems of their own (see Table 3 in appendix C). Various definitions of Autonomous Weapon Systems are listed in Table 3 in appendix C. Some authors use the term military robots which have a certain level of autonomy. As military robots can be viewed as a subclass of Autonomous Weapon systems according to the classification of Royakkers and Orbons (2015) (Figure 2) we included them in the list of definitions. In our opinion the definition in the report of the ADVISORY COUNCIL ON INTERNATIONAL AFFAIRS (AIV & CAVV) captures the description of Autonomous Weapon Systems best from an engineering and military standpoint, because it takes predefined criteria into account and is linked to the military targeting process as the weapon will only be deployed after a human decision. In their 2021 report on Autonomous Weapons Systems the AIV & CAVV continue to use this definition (Broeks et al., 2021). Therefore, we will follow this definition and define Autonomous Weapon Systems as: ‘A weapon that, without human intervention, selects and engages targets matching certain predefined criteria, following a human decision to deploy the weapon on the understanding that an attack, once launched, cannot be stopped by human intervention.’(AIV & CAVV, 2015, p. 11; Broeks et al., 2021, p. 11). Classification of Autonomous Weapon Systems Not only are Autonomous Weapon Systems ambiguously defined, they also have not been uniformly classified. We present two classifications in this subsection. Royakkers and Orbons (2015) describe several types of Autonomous Weapon Systems (Figure 2) distinct between (1) Non-Lethal Weapons which are weapons ‘…without causing (innocent) casualties or serious and permanent harm to people.’ (Royakkers & Orbons, 2015, p. 617), such as the Active Denial System which uses a beam of electromagnetic
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