We've been toying with armed robotic vehicles for a couple of decades but the Royal Marines actually did an amphibious assault exercise with them...

via National Interest

Robots in the air, on the ocean surface and on the ground guarded British Royal Marines as they stormed a beach during an important April 2019 war game.

The ground robot, in particular, is a new capability for the Royal Marines. The gun- and rocket-armed, tank-like unmanned ground vehicle could boost the naval branch’s firepower while helping to keep human beings out of harm’s way.

Alpha Company of the Royal Marines’ 40 Commando and their robot guardians stormed a beach in Cornwall in southwest England as part of Exercise Commando Warrior. The Royal Marines’ 1 Assault Group supported the naval infantry.

Story here. 

How many of you remember the Carnegie Mellon Crusher circa 2007...



Or how about the more recent BAE Black Knight?



You don't want to talk about combat vehicles?  Well how about the TerraMaxx, basically a robotic MTVR!



The point?

We keep playing with robotic vehicles but we never put them into service.  Now?  Now our allies and threat nations are putting them into service while we waste what was once a technological lead.

Unmanned ground combat vehicles WILL BE the next wave in armored warfare.  We should be on our 3rd generation of such vehicles but bureaucratic stagnation along with two poorly planned and executed wars in the Middle East (or does Syria count as 3) mean that lead no longer exists.

Is this how Rome fell?  They became complacent while everyone else stayed hungry?