Armchair Generals

One in 50 soldiers in Afghanistan is a robot.

There are now more than 2,000 ground robots operating in Afghanistan, and troops are demanding more.

Marine Corps Lt. Col. Dave Thompson, project manager for the joint project office for robotics systems, said there has been an insatiable demand for this technology. Robots for the most part have been used to detect improvised explosive devices, but their missions are growing, Thompson said Feb. 1 at the Association for Unmanned Vehicle Systems International program review, in Washington, D.C.

“Robots are not just for explosive ordnance disposal teams anymore,” he said.

Ground forces are finding new applications for small robots that can be carried by dismounted troops. “They are using them in ways we never expected,” he said. One-third of the approximately 1,400 robots sent to Afghanistan from 2009 to 2010 did not go to EOD teams, he said. Troops use the cameras for reconnaissance and surveillance. Military police are also finding utility for the robots, he added.

Many of the tactics being employed are classified. One popular application has been for entry control points, said Thompson. The robots are being sent out in front of checkpoints where they can look underneath or inside vehicles for bombs before the cars or trucks get too close, he said.

And these are good uses for the little guys to keep our flesh and blood troops safe.  Congress on the other hand wants to up that ratio to one out of three, and that means a whole new level of defense pork spending and defense contractor manufacturing, potentially trillions and trillions of dollars worth for fighting future wars...or hell, current ones.

Me, I got one word.  SkyNet.