Your time spent playing Call of Duty and watching Robot Wars
might prepare you for combat better than basic training does.
Unmanned vehicles, on land, in the air and in the ocean, are the
future of warfare. A Visiongain defense report states that
spending on unmanned ground combat vehicles (UGCVs) alone will
top $700 million in 2011. Unmanned military vehicles come in two
types: Autonomous and teleoperated. The former pilot themselves,
repair themselves, gather information about their surroundings
and try to keep people and property safe while achieving
military objectives. Teleoperated systems, meanwhile, work in
the manner of remote-controlled cars. Someone sitting in a
control center thousands of miles away can direct their actions.
The American military relies increasingly upon UGVs. Such
vehicles can handle mundane tasks like border surveillance,
freeing up human soldiers for more sensitive and vital missions.
They can also handle dangerous tasks, like locating and defusing
improvised explosive devices.