Legal-Operational Analysis: Introduction

This chapter introduces Part IV, which is focused on legal-operational analysis of autonomous weapon systems (AWS). First, Part IV is situated within the framework introduced in Chap.  2 and the broader targeting process: at this point, it is assumed that the AWS-user has discharged all of their tasks indicated in Part III related to informing oneself of the system, the environment and interactive elements, and is about to perform targeting analysis and weaponeering. The chapter then explains the main questions that are explored in this part: “May I lawfully deploy this AWS?” and “How should I deploy this AWS?” look at the legal considerations, while “Why would I use this weapon?” looks at the military perspective. It is argued that both the legal and practical prongs must be satisfied before AWS will effectively be used in practice. To support the three chapters that follow, this chapter also provides some general notes concerning the methodology applied for the legal analyses, the specific targeting obligations that are analysed, and offers an overview of the structure of Part IV.