Despite the rise of unmanned aircraft and vehicles in modern warfare, the soldiers will never disappear from the battle field, defense technology experts said at the Defense Exhibition and Conference (IDEX) 2013 held in Abu Dhabi on Sunday.
Although unmanned reconnaissance, drones, some vehicles and even naval boats can now work without a pilot or captain, the decision to shoot or not to shoot will remain in the hands of military personnel, experts, who attend the conference told Xinhua.
P. J. Nevin, a sergeant major of the French Foreign Legion, said despite the technological advances enabled a foot soldier "to shoot around the corner with his assault rifle," he can't be replaced by a robot.
"We are today better equipped than ever, but we can't give away combat intelligence to a computer," added Nevin, who has been serving in the military for 22 years.
Dr. Peter Hellmeister, general manager of German defense giant Rheinmetall's Abu Dhabi branch, said while drones might be more precise than the internationally banned cluster ammunition, the drone can neither think like a human nor distinguish between a combatant and a civilian.
"The soldier will never disappear from the battle field," Hellmeister said.
Philip Gross, sales manager at Switzerland's MinWolf presented at the IDEX for the first time the company's MicroMine Wolf, a remote-controlled mine sweeper that is no bigger than a civilian Fiat Panda car.
"At the end of the day, such robotic vehicles must be remotely- controlled by a man and this means armies still need soldiers," said Gross.
Despite the rise in unmanned aerial vehicles, military vehicles on the ground are still produced to carry an ample amount of military personnel.
The United Arab Emirates (UAE), the hosting country of the conference, presented for the first time the Nimr (Tiger), an indigenous military vehicle produced by stated-owned Tawazun Company.
Tawazun said the Nimr has the highest armored protection base for its soldiers and the UAE plans to export it to the world.
China's state-owned defense giant China Poly Group Corporation displayed the MRAP Type CS/VP3, a troop transport "which can stand mine explosions below the vehicle's wheel," said Dai Ning, the firm's assistant chairman.
These two examples show that soldiers won't disappear but in fact the defense industry takes the army's lives more and more into account by providing better protection for them.
The five-day IDEX, one of the world's largest fairs and exhibitions for defense technology and military equipment, hosts about 1,112 exhibiting companies from 59 countries.
