Likewise. Even companies like Saildrone where ~100% of the marketing before 2025 was about mapping the oceans and autonomous storm monitoring with their bright orange craft are now releasing videos with missile launching pods attached to navy gray versions: https://www.saildrone.com/news/us-navy-rimpac-lockheed-marti...
Do you want superpowers to be able to wage wars, foreign or domestically, with hordes of non-human combatants that can't refuse orders or defect on moral grounds?
To be fair, a lot of it is moving to drones killing drones.
My prediction is that future wars will actually involve increasingly fewer humans and will be more about tech+manufacturing vs. tech+manufacturing. And of course insurgents + lowcost tech vs. increasingly nonlethal hightech.
This would allow wars to continue without as much of the growing political backlash.
Drone tech is dual use, as is most other tech. It's hard to have the one without the other. And yes, drones killing civilians is very demented, such war crimes (because that is what they are) should not go unpunished.
I used to be super stoked about it.
But watching drones kill civilians kind of ruined it. [0]
Then again ... they do put a dent in superpowers powers apparently so ... like I said ... I am torn.
[0] https://www.bbc.com/news/videos/czdmrm6y7r0o