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I know some people can never, in any circumstance, imagine a human soldier being replaced by a robotic one.
Having said that, what thinkest y'all about super small arial drones, disguised to look like insects, that could spy and kill as needed?
Super cheap, and available in the millions.
Would there still be a need for human soldiers? If so, in what capacity?
No more grunts? With all those automated drones, who's gonna pull all those pointless and lame details? I can't imagine drones PMCSing their trucks, sweeping sand, pulling weeds and doing police calls! Of course there will always be a need for human soldiers
I know some people can never, in any circumstance, imagine a human soldier being replaced by a robotic one.
Having said that, what thinkest y'all about super small arial drones, disguised to look like insects, that could spy and kill as needed?
Super cheap, and available in the millions.
Would there still be a need for human soldiers? If so, in what capacity?
"thinkest?" Is that even a word? Anyway-
Spy and kill are binary-can't affect, or can only affect by killing. There's a million things a Soldier can do that are between those two options.
Although I typically think Heinlein's Starship Troopers is overrated gush about how "wonderful it is to be a [ground] Soldier!" by a guy who was a Naval officer who pretty well focused on research and communications, and had to leave for health reasons (he forgot the sweat and dirt part about ground work), there is an excellent quote that sums it up-
"There are a dozen different ways of delivering destruction in impersonal wholesale, via ships or missiles of one sort or another [...] What we do is entirely different. We make war as personal as a punch in the nose. We can be selective, applying precisely the required amount of pressure at the specified point at a designated time. We've never beent old to go down and kill or capture all left-handed redheads in a particular area, but if they tell us to, we can. We will."
-Heinlein, Starship Troopers
Drones can't (currently) apply judgement-the ROE example-or do individual hands-on tasks. They can't comfort a child, provide a truly intimidating "presence" in an area, hand out water, or truly assess the on-ground situation by sitting down for tea with the village leadership.
How many times have we heard the prediction that ground troops will soon be obsolete?
It never has been true and never will. There is literally no substitute.
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The end of ground troops
