[robertlagrant]

I think CAPTOR is a deep water anti-submarine device? I agree that a roving band of nearby civilians in a submarine would be at risk, but that's what a war zone is for.

But more generally, I see what you're saying: it's the same problem, but at a different scale - in this case, the scale of "distance from the weapon". Minefields are very localised; underwater anti-submarine mines require a submarine; autonomous aircraft are just the same, but with a much bigger range.

However, I think the range matters. Civilians avoiding a war zone in a ship or a minefield, while bad, is not the same thing as autonomous aeroplanes able to go to a static civilian population and fire at it.