[Reeses]

seem to think the M-1 is obsolete

In its human controlled version it's fast becoming obsolete but make it much smaller, remove the seats and install an autonomous computer and you have a fearsome machine that comes with no political cost to put in harms way. The sky is now full of robot airplanes. Next we need robot soldiers. The hard part will be the artifical intelligence to not kill civilians. A fire only when fired upon behavior may be a solution.

[colorado tanker]

You mean, the Terminator?

[Axenolith]

Controlled by SkyNet?

[TexasBarak]

Next we need robot soldiers. The hard part will be the artifical intelligence to not kill civilians. A fire only when fired upon behavior may be a solution.

Ah yes, concieved and named many years ago by Keith Laumer (a man of many talents)- you refer to the magnificent "Bolo".

[Skywalk]

Actually, instead of relying on robot soldiers' individual program routines, what you could do is have an army of video game players. With this country's wealth of first-person shooters, tactical combat players,etc. each robot vehicle or soldier could be controlled via remote. With that comes the risk that an enemy will learn to disrupt the signals, but perhaps the remote base could be on the battlefield but protected by massive air and armored force.

The robots could be for the more dangerous assignments or advances.

One thing to think about, if humans begin to fight with surrogate forces, civilian casualties will skyrocket, as the means to destroy an enemy's army will lie solely with annihilating his manufacturing and electronics base. Losing a million robots might be tough, but if the capacity is there to make more, a nation could wage war where they might have negotiated for peace because of heavy casualties.