The Guardian has posted details of the shift in combat technology towards automated and remote-control systems:

By 2015, the US Department of Defense plans that one third of its fighting strength will be composed of robots, part of a $127bn (£68bn) project known as Future Combat Systems (FCS), a transformation that is part of the largest technology project in American history.

But in a war of “hearts and minds” this seems like the opposite direction from useful. The problem with current military strategy is largely that the Army is too automated, even with humans, and not responsive enough to local needs and customs to develop alliances and information superiority. It seems that introduction of robots to replace humans will only lessen the ability of the military to fight sophisticated networks of guerrilla forces, unless the machines are coupled with on-the-ground human intelligence operations (e.g. informants and ground-control).