Eric Schmidt, the former CEO of Google, a noted Hillary Clinton lackey, and CEO of a defense industry startup, has suggested that the US Army should replace its tanks with AI-powered drones, citing the effectiveness of drones in recent conflicts.
The Register reports that in a recent speech at the Future Investment Initiative in Saudi Arabia, leftist Eric Schmidt made a bold proposal for the US Army: ditch the tanks and invest in AI-powered drones instead. Schmidt argued that the thousands of tanks currently stored by the U.S. military are “useless” and should be given away in favor of more advanced drone technology.
Schmidt’s perspective is based on observations from recent conflicts, such as the war in Ukraine, where relatively inexpensive drones have proven capable of destroying multi-million dollar tanks. Even consumer-grade drones have been used to drop grenades through the open turret hatches of tanks, demonstrating their effectiveness in modern warfare.
Of course, Schmidt is arguing from a position of self interest. He is the founder of a startup called White Stork, which aims to develop AI-driven attack drones. The company’s goal is to support Ukraine’s war effort by creating low-cost drones that can acquire targets using AI rather than human operators, and can function in environments where GPS jamming is present.
Schmidt predicts that the rapidly falling cost of autonomy will lead to a future where drone warfare replaces tanks, artillery, and mortars. The effectiveness of drones in the Ukraine conflict has raised questions about the viability of modern battle tanks, with Russia losing an estimated 3,000 tanks in the first 24 months of fighting.
However, both Russia and Ukraine continue to utilize tanks in their military strategies, with Ukraine requesting Western hardware to aid in their fight. The UK is also investing heavily in upgrading its Challenger 2 battle tanks to the Challenger 3 model, which includes a new turret and gun, among other enhancements.
Many modern tanks are equipped with active protection systems (APS) like Trophy, which can detect incoming threats and launch explosive projectiles to intercept them before they reach the tank. Various other countermeasures, such as laser dazzlers to blind drone sensors, are also said to be in development.
Despite Schmidt’s suggestions, military experts believe that the U.S. Army is unlikely to completely replace its thousands of M1 Abrams tanks with drones in the near future. Instead, a balanced approach incorporating both drones and tanks is expected to be the most likely scenario when the US military is called upon.
Read more at the Register here.
Lucas Nolan is a reporter for Breitbart News covering issues of free speech and online censorship.