MOD isn’t equipped to face future robot threats, say MPS

BRITAIN’S Armed Forces must do more to prepare for the future threat posed by robots, a report by an influential group of MPS has said.

A Public Accounts Committee investigation into the Ministry of Defence’s equipment plan for the next decade found it “did not reflect the continually changing nature of the defence landscape”. As a result, the report said, the MOD had a “lack of flexibility” to respond to “emerging threats” such as cyber attacks and artificial intelligence.

The report also concluded that the Armed Forces could be almost £21billion short of the money needed to buy equipment over the next 10 years.

The MOD said it was committed to “delivering large, technologically challenging” programmes, and the potential funding gap in the report “reflects an unlikely, worst-case scenario in which all possibilities materialise”.