When human troops are replaced by robots on the battlefield, it won't be because the Pentagon's had some revelation about the value of human life – it'll be an effort to defuse anti-war protests by minimizing visible casualties.

US military commanders are itching to get their hands on some killer robots after an Army war game saw a human-robot coalition repeatedly rout an all-human company three times its size. The technology used in the computer-simulated clashes doesn't exist quite yet – the concept was only devised a few months ago – but it's in the pipeline, and that should concern anyone who prefers peace to war.

"We reduced the risk to US forces to zero, basically, and were still able to accomplish the mission," Army Captain Philip Belanger gushed to Breaking Defense last week, after commanding the silicon soldiers through close to a dozen battles at Fort Benning Maneuver Battle Lab.  When they tried to fight an army three times their size again without the robotic reinforcements? "Things did not go well for us," Belanger admitted.