On February 11, the U.S. Army put out a call for help with its ATLAS program.
ATLAS is an acronym for Advanced Targeting and Lethality Automated System.
It's a killing machine, an automated tank capable of identifying and destroying targets without human assistance.
This is the future of warfare.
The Army says AI weapons can "acquire, identify, and engage targets at least 3X faster than the current manual process," making them far more efficient than humans.
They're also more accurate, which reduces the possibility of civilian casualties and friendly fire. So while these robot weapons are more lethal to adversaries, they're safer for U.S. troops.
Again, this is a natural evolution, as there are already hundreds of autonomous and semi-autonomous missile-defense systems currently in use.
ATLAS, however, would be the first use of such weaponry by ground combat vehicles.
It also goes without saying that the U.S. isn't the only country that's figured this out.
Russia recently deployed its Uran-9 unmanned combat vehicle in Syria.
Of course, it didn't perform exceptionally well.
The remote-controlled combat vehicle lost contact with ground control stations, suffered from an unreliable gun and suspension system, and couldn't target enemies while on the move.
But again, we're talking about the future, not the present.
Experts say the U.S. military could have more robot soldiers on the battlefield than real ones as soon as 2025.
"I see a greater robotization, in fact, future warfare will involve operators and machines, not soldiers shooting at each other on the battlefield," says Lieutenant-General Andrey Grigoriev. "The soldier would gradually turn into an operator and be removed from the battlefield."
The numbers bear this out.
The U.S. Army increased its robot spend from $20 million in 2014 to $156 million in 2018. And it's set to climb higher, to $327 million in 2019.
That's a 1,823% increase.