Robot War
A manifesto
Fighting robots replace larger, more specialized weapons in much the same way that cell phones replaced larger, more specialized devices. Thus, robots do to tanks and ground attack aircraft what cell phones did to digital cameras and electronic clocks.
Some robots crawl. Others swim. Most, however, fly.
Robots come in a wide, and, indeed, growing number of shapes and sizes.
Forces modify robots in the course of operations.
A close connection between the boffin who modifies robots and the bloke who employs enhances the ability of a unit to achieve, and react to, technical surprise.
Organizations that specialize in the procurement of a small number of expensive weapons will acquire a small number of expensive robots.
Belligerents free of bureaucracies that specialize in the procurement of a small number of expensive weapons will find it easier to obtain, maintain, and modify fighting robots.
The proliferation of fighting robots drive fighters into forests, jungles, and cities, thereby creating work for specialists in close combat.
For reasons of capacity, cost, and survivability, large merchant ships provide a better home for robot swarms than conventional surface combatants.
For Further Reading:
The key point here is “free of bureaucracy” and that is what scares me the most as the US military has become so bureaucratic heavy that I find it almost impossible for us to be able to compete effectively in this area. The Chinese, Russians and Iranians do not have that issue so they are able to adapt and field new technologies a lot faster than we could and in much greater numbers as well.
700,000 ~ 900,000 DOD civilian bureaucrats on 1,200,000 active duty military…. It’s a wonder we’re still here.