Soldier-free wars

As of 27 February 2009, at least 4,252 members of the US military and 179 of the British military have died in the Iraq war since it began in March 2003. And every single one of them has been a blow to the US and British governments... There's nothing like losing soldiers to make politicians really unpopular.

So the solution? Soldier-free wars. In Iraq, the US pioneered a type of troop-light warfare, in which high-technology was designed to swiftly overthrow Saddam Hussein, after which peace, democracy and a market-led economy would somehow fall into place. The second part, at least, didn't really work out. But the first part was swift. And the lesson for defence departments around the world has been that troops can be kept to a minimum if you use the right technology.

So when the UK Ministry of Defence this week unveiled its weapons of the future in its new Defence Technology Plan, there were plenty that appeared to minimise the need for actual soldiers on the battlefield. They included: The Novel Air Concept, which is a proposed fleet of unmanned drones that can reach targets 1,000km away, and Testudo, a small robot that can scope out a battleground while being controlled from hundreds of metres away.

It was reported in The Times that Quentin Davies, Minister for Defence Equipment and Support, said that soldiers weren't being replaced: “We’re not taking the human being out of the process. We’re hoping to give the individual the maximum amount of information, firepower and protection in whatever they’re doing.” Right, so that the individual can be as far away as possible.

The MoD's flashy gadgets attracted a lot of light-hearted attention in the press this week. What anyone failed to ask was what it might be like to be the poor human being on the receiving end of a soldier-free war.

Picture of Testudo above by Rich Trenholm on CNET UK.