UK General Says a Quarter of the Army Could Be Robots by the 2030s
The British military just went full Terminator in a very public way. General Sir Nick Carter, the head of the UK armed forces, told Sky News that he suspects the army could have 30,000 robot soldiers by the 2030s – roughly a quarter of the projected 120,000 total force. “I mean I suspect we can have an army of 120,000, of which 30,000 might be robots, who knows,” he said on Remembrance Sunday of all days. The timing choice there is… interesting.
Carter stressed he wasnt setting firm targets, just thinking out loud about the direction military modernization might take. But this wasnt idle speculation either – investment in robotic warfare is expected to play a major role in the UKs five-year defense review. According to Engadget, the shift makes practical sense given that the British Army has struggled to meet recruitment targets for years. The current trained strength sits around 73,870, well below the nominal target of 82,050. If you cant convince enough humans to join, maybe you build machines instead.
What These Robots Would Actually Do
Before you imagine Terminators marching through enemy territory, the actual applications are probably more mundane than movies suggest. There has been significant opposition to autonomous “killer robots” that could make lethal decisions without human intervention – for good reason honestly. The scenarios being discussed involve cargo transport, reconnaissance, logistics support, and other tasks that free up human soldiers for actual combat roles.
All branches of the British military are already experimenting with drones and remotely operated vehicles. Some of these are armed – like the i9 drone with two shotguns meant for clearing buildings. But even armed systems typically require human operators making judgment calls about when to fire. The robot army of the 2030s would likely be a mix: autonomous trucks hauling supplies, surveillance drones scouting ahead, remote-controlled weapons platforms for dangerous situations, plus actual soldiers making the decisions that matter.
Carter warned there remained real risks that escalation in regional conflicts could lead to miscalculation and larger wars. Speaking on Remembrance Sunday, he noted that “history might not repeat itself but it has a rhythm” and pointed to how both world wars began with escalation that leaders failed to contain. Adding autonomous systems to that mix introduces new variables – what happens when a robot makes a mistake in a tense situation? Who is accountable? These questions dont have good answers yet.
The Arms Race Nobody Can Stop
The UK isnt alone in pursuing military robotics. The US fields over 5,300 unmanned aerial vehicles and more than 12,000 ground robots already. Israel and South Korea use armed robots to patrol borders. Russia has been showing off experimental robot soldiers for years. China is investing heavily in autonomous systems. Its a classic arms race dynamic – nobody wants to be left behind even if everyone might be better off if nobody built these things.
China has been particularly aggressive about demonstrating autonomous weapons capabilities, which creates pressure on Western militaries to keep pace. The rush to weaponize AI and robotics has been compared to the nuclear arms race, and experts have called for international laws to prevent accidents with potentially devastating consequences. So far those calls have gone mostly unheeded.
The story of Stanislav Petrov is worth remembering here. In 1983, the Soviet officers early-warning system incorrectly reported five incoming US nuclear missiles. Petrov used human judgment to determine it was a system error and didnt launch a retaliatory strike. Had he followed protocol or had an automated system been in charge, we might not be here discussing robot armies. Something to think about as we hand more decision-making to machines.
