Everything is “Up in the air” with the Trump Administration and SECDEF with the canceling of the Remote Combat Vehicle (RCV), armored vehicles, AH-64D (not the AH-64E), E-7A “Wedgetail” AEW&C aircraft, 105mm M10 Booker, JLTV, HMMWV, and so on. I think it’s to pay for the Golden Dome SAM system, which in my opinion the US is too vast to defend with just SAMs. When it comes to remote AI vehicles, who knows what the current SECDEF now wants.
I think a problem now becomes that the US will need more sentries to protect “behind the scenes.” However, the SECDEF wants to cut thousands of troops to make for a “Leaner and more lethal fighting force.” I have wondered if that is wise considering how unstable the world and the US is getting.
It’s hard not to get political about all of this. The southern border, the ICE raids, the civil unrests, Trump’s 79th Birthday military parade march, etc. show that the US Army National Guard and the US Marines deployed without sleeping arrangements and adequate food and water. This shows that logistics (the “tail”) still need to catch up to the “teeth” that can run away from the “tail.”
Can AI robotics help troops? Sure, the RCV was meant to accompany the troops into combat by carrying the heavy logistics cargo, food, fuel, ammunition, and water, but the entire RCV program has been canceled from small to large robotic vehicles. Without RCV, no need to worry about hacking into robotic ground vehicles because there won’t be any. Now a lot of unmanned ground vehicle prototypes developed by Defense industry startups seem irrelevant because don’t they fall into the RCV category?
The rising issue is that China and Asian nations are developing civilian robots at an astounding rate. You can see some on YouTube. These are humanoid robots, pet robots, animal robots, helper robots, female robots, toy robots, etc. They actually look human because Asian culture embraces Anime, Manga, and “cute feminine culture” unlike the US and NATO. China made a robotic horse that looks just like a real horse, is as big as a real horse, and moves its head and eyes like a real horse. It’s animatronics for now, but if the robot horse has AI and can gallop fast, and a rider can ride it, it can bring back horse cavalry assaults similar to the Mongols…just like armed insurgent motorcycle gangs.
That is the key concern is that civilian AI robots can develop into military AI robots, and already on YouTube there are concepts of humans riding AI animals like ATVs. Any civilian AI robot can be militarized for nefarious purposes, including insurgency, gangs, and “Lone Wolf” attacks. Local Law Enforcement will need better firepower than just handguns and rifles to stop civilian robots, and the old government saying, “We’re just not ready; we’re just not there yet” just won’t cut it anymore. That is why I find it strange that the US government is cutting so many federal workers and programs. Is it prophetic to cut so many federal workers and programs and save so much money to shift into preparing for Homeland Defense against civilian AI robots that have been used and transformed for nefarious attacks? If so, then that’s not the War Department per se…that is Homeland Security and the FBI and not the SECDEF’s jurisdiction.
Remember that TERMINATOR’s SKYNET launched “Judgement Day” because it saw humans as a threat to its own AI existence (SKYNET feared that humans will “pull the plug” on its AI mainframe). In reality, humans hating humans still explains the origins of attacks and wars…always has and always will be for the near Earth future.
