Terminator-style robots will ‘combat Britain’s subsequent battle’ and ‘should hold Putin at bay’
General Sir Roly Walker said future conflicts will see soldiers backed by swarms of drones and unmanned vehicles
Arnold Schwarzenegger starred in the Terminator films(Image: Channel 5)
Terminator-style robots will fight Britain’s next war, the Army’s top general has warned. The bots will battle alongside troops as military chiefs race to keep pace with the rapidly changing face of warfare.
General Sir Roly Walker said future conflicts will see soldiers backed by swarms of drones and unmanned vehicles. The Army chief also warned Britain must be ready to hit Vladimir Putin ’s forces within 30 minutes of war breaking.
And our forces should be using “much greater numbers of remote and autonomous systems on the eastern flank”. He told the Rusi Land Warfare conference: “If deterrence fails, and history tells us it does, that cost imposed on that aggressor must be felt immediately and preferably before they even get out of their own assembly areas.”
Sir Roly said the war in Ukraine had shown how drones and autonomous technology are transforming the battlefield. He argued Britain must embrace the new technology if it is to remain a credible fighting force.
The Army chief also insisted the UK must keep pulling its weight in Nato amid questions over defence spending. A long-awaited military investment plan has been delayed for months amid a Whitehall tug-of-war between the Treasury and Ministry of Defence.
Sir Roly said alliances are built on action rather than words, warning that soldiers remain the alliance’s “most precious currency”. The warning comes after years of cuts left Britain’s Army at its smallest size in more than 200 years, with around 70,000 fully trained troops.
But he insisted there was still no substitute for boots on the ground, saying: “Only armies seize and hold ground, and only armies remain when wars end.”
