New Technologies in International Law / Tymofeyeva, Crhák et al.

the second world war. Indeed, this appears to be the type of behaviour the drafters of the additional protocols were seeking to prevent. 47 Nonetheless, bombardment is simply defined as ‘a continuous attack with either bombs, shells, or other missiles.’ 48 With that in mind, if swarms are capable of being defined as a bombardment two simple questions must be answered in the positive. The first question regards the matter of whether once deployed, a swarm operates in a continuous manner, and two, whether the individual elements of a swarm constitute a bomb, shell, or other missile. In the first instance, ‘continuous’ is subsequently defined as ‘forming an unbroken whole; without interruption: the whole performance is enacted in one continuous movement .’ 49 Here, one could argue that a swarm may not necessarily apply force in a continuous manner. Nonetheless. it is argued that a swarm does operate continuously from the moment at which a decision-maker authorises it deployment, to the later moment in time where it either completes its mission or for some other reason ceases to operate. In other words, it operates in a continuous manner. The second issue is connected to the application of force, the issue here being the matter of whether a swarm constitutes a continuous attack with either a bomb, shell, or other missile. It is argued that this is the only logical definition – with the elements of a swarm already having been referred to as a munition. The U.S. Department of Defence (DoD) defines a munition as a ‘complete device charged with explosives; propellants; pyrotechnics; initiating composition; or chemical, biological, radiological, or nuclear material for use in operations including demolitions.’ 50 For present proposes this is arguably sufficient. However, the DoD is a specialised agency, so it might also be useful to consider the the ordinary meaning of terms bomb, shell and missile. First, a bomb is defined as ‘a container filled with explosive or incendiary material, designed to explode on impact or when detonated by a timing, proximity, or remote control device’. 51 To this, to one might reasonably add ‘or autonomously’, though there is no pressing need because a swarm might also be defined as a collection of missiles , those being defined as objects “forcibly propelled at a target either by hand or from a mechanical weapon’. 52 It could be argued that given its autonomy, an armed swarm is not necessarily propelled by hand. However, the point here is the elements of the swarm are in themselves a mechanical weapon. In addition, if the definition of shell is utilised instead, e.g., an ‘explosive artillery projectile or bomb’ this minor difficulty, if there is one, is 47 Pilloud C, Depruex J, Sandoz Y et al, ‘Commentary on the Additional Protocols of 8 June 1977 to the Geneva Conventions of 12 August 1949’ ICRC, (1987), para. 1946. 48 Bombardment, Oxford Dictionary of English, (OUP, Version 15.7.471). Similarly, the Cambridge Dictionary of English provides that bombardment is, a continuous attack on a place with guns or bombs, see, ‘Cambridge Dictionary of English’ accessed 1 November 2023. 49 ‘Continuous’, Oxford Dictionary (n 48). 50 ‘DOD Dictionary of Military and Associated Terms’ ( U.S. Department of Defense , November 2021) accessed 15 December 2023.

51 ‘Bomb’, Oxford Dictionary (n 48). 52 ‘Missile’, Oxford Dictionary (n 48).

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