Robots are going to be the centerpiece of the future. We are going to be driven around in robotic driverless cars, our food in restaurants will be served by robots and we will even be looked after by them in our old age. What about our defence? Could we be defended by robots and the armies of the future be also robotic?

TechRoba has a list of all robo-soldier programs developed by various armies across the world. Given the advanced stage of development of these robotic programs all over the world, it’s not a question of if but “when” India also starts on that program. However, in the meantime, India spends nearly 14 per cent of its budget on defence at nearly Rs 250,000 crore. Further, a substantial portion of this budget comes from arms imports. Jane’s, a defence industry publication noted that:

India has spent a total of INR 838 billion (USD13.1 billion) on defence imports over the past three years, with related expenditure climbing by more than 50% during this period, new figures published by the Indian Ministry of Defence (MoD) show. Citing parliamentary remarks made by defence minister Manohar Parrikar on 24 April, the MoD said spending on “orders placed on foreign vendors” increased from INR 224.6 billion in 2011-12 to INR 263.1 billion in 2012-13 to INR350.8 billion in 2013-14. This represents an overall increase of 56% and average annual increases of 25%.

This import bill is the largest for any nation and as much as the next four highest countries. According to the Stockholm Peace Research Institute:

Of the top 10 largest importers of major weapons during the 5-year period 2010–14, 5 are in Asia: India (15 per cent of global arms imports), China (5 per cent), Pakistan (4 per cent), South Korea (3 per cent) and Singapore (3 per cent). These five countries accounted for 30 per cent of the total volume of arms imports worldwide. India accounted for 34 per cent of the volume of arms imports to Asia, more than three times as much as China. China’s arms imports actually decreased by 42 per cent between 2005–2009 and 2010–14.

This valuable defence spending will continue to increase because of the high potential for conflict with our neighbour, Pakistan. However, instead of the conventional arms race where we try to bankrupt our adversaries, could we be smarter about our defence spending? These high defence-spending budgets come at the cost of welfare and social spending such as education and healthcare.

Perhaps, an out-of-the-box solution could be to initiate a fourth division. Let’s call it the Robot Force, which will have equal status as the traditional Army, Navy and Air forces. The head of these institution, perhaps a scientist, would have equal status as the generals, admirals and marshals of the other main forces. This specialised force would anyway be the future of defence. Why not plan for the future by creating a separate robot defence group whose only responsibility would be on robo-soldiers? It will not only make India jump to the future but also keep defence spending lower.