"Robots on the Battlefield" is the first work published in the United States by the Ecoles de Saint-Cyr Coetquidan, the French military officer training facility. The theme of robotization of the battlefield is approached here from the angle of social and political sciences. The work does not cover scientific and technological aspects of the question but concentrates on legal, ethical, psychological, sociological, tactical, and strategic issues, in order to provide an overview of how the amazing development of military robots is going to change the conditions under which our armed forces act: preventing conflicts, coming between hostile parties, military intervention per se, and stabilizing and reconstructing the countries concerned. Without necessarily evoking "robolution" (the idea that robotization has led to revolutionary change and a turning point in military history), the multiplication of remotely controlled machines, some of which are capable of autonomous decisions and actions, transforms the conditions of using force and raises a number of questions about opportunities and threats; the balance of costs, advantages and risks; operational and budgetary priorities; compatibility with the laws of armed combat and military ethics; the organization of forces; the use of robots in conjunction with other arms; tactical changes; the impact on enemies and the population; and, more broadly, a change in the very sense of the military profession. The work includes analyses by leaders of the French armed forces, by industrialists in the field, and by university professors specializing in defense issues. .

Introduction: digitization and robotization of the battlefield, evolution or robolution? / Didier Danet and Jean-Paul Hanon ; Part I. The military robot: a new stage in the history of arms. Robotic and future wars: when land forces face technological developments / Antonin Tisseron -- Robots, cyber, history, and war / Mark Hagerott -- New extrapolations: robotics and revolution in military affairs / Christian Malis -- Robotization of the forces and organization of Army units / Jean-Philippe Wirth ; Part II. Robots and soldiers on the battlefield: a challenge in law and military ethics. Stakeholders and issues: outlook for change in the international legal framework for the use of military robotics / Eric Germain -- The legal aspects of military ground robots / Ronan Doare -- A comparison of drone and military unmanned ground vehicles (UGVs) in international law / Eric Pomes -- Robots and civil liberties / Thierry Daups -- Military robots and ethics: ethical problems for European industrial, political, and military leaders / Benoit Royal -- Autonomous robots: the irreducible and complementary place of officer's ethics / Dominique Lambert -- The ethical challenges of unmanned systems / George R. Lucas, Jr. -- Ethics and techniques of the invisible: ethical aspects of the use of undetectable robots in the private sphere and their extension to military robots / Dominique Vermersch -- Preparing military leader education for the age of robotics / Eugene K. Ressler and Barry L. Shoop -- An assessment of combatant empathy for robots with a view to avoiding inappropriate conduct in combat / Serge Tisseron ; Part III. The future of robots in the military. The future of drone warfare / Noel Sharkey -- Developing and integrating unmanned systems for military operations / E.W. Powers -- The use of robots on the battlefield: benefits, constraints, and limitations for soldiers / Gerard de Boisboissel -- Is the insect the future of robots? / Alexandr Stefek -- Robotization of the Combined Arms Task Force: perspectives / Eric Ozanne -- Battlefield robotization: toward a new combat ecosystem / Michel Yakovleff.