D-Day - looking back, and back, and forward and forward!

The 75th anniversary of D-Day has inevitably got me think about relative time. I first went to Normandy in the early 70s, maybe not even in my teens. Let's say 1974, 30 years after the event. At that time I was a lot close to D-Day than I was to now (30 vs 45!). For my parents (both kids at the time) D-Day was then a 30 yr old memory - the same as my memories of 1989 (when I was just about to leave the Army, and so much seems like only yesterday).

But turning to matters more military, compare the above D-Day photo with this one.

1982 - the landing at San Carlos water. Still with landing craft and guys crouching on the ground with packs and rifles. Not really a lot had changed in 38 years. OK we don't see the Harriers and Skyhawks, or Sea Kings, but otherwise? But by now surely things have changed?

US/South Korea exercise in 2017. OK the AAVs have now driven up onto the beach, but still mostly men with guns. And here's the Russians recently.

Although in some areas things are changing a bit...

Yes we have aircraft (but air superiority), guided weapons, the beginnings of drones (and anti-drone weapons), personal radios and the start of personal battlefield computers, but it's still the Poor Bloody Infantry getting wet running up the sand. Domestic life may have changed a lot, but has military life - particularly in extreme undertakings such as these?

No though, let's think 25 years out to the 100th anniversary of D-Day - 2044. Procurement cycles being what they are we probably have a fair idea what the big bits of kit will be like. We're expecting no real innovation in locomotive technology, ships and APCs may have lasers for defence, possibly for offence, UAVs and UGVs will be more numerous, the multi-domain battle will be being waged far from the beach, but its all a logical extension.

But let's go 75 years out, to 2094 - we're half-way between D-Day and that date. 2094 puts us well beyond estimates for "the singularity" and most estimates for Artificial General Intelligence superceding human intelligence.  If military landings haven't changed much in the last 75 years, and may not for the next 25, I think there's a good bet that 75 years out they may be completely redundant as we currently see them. Either the whole need and rationale will have just evaporated, or if you do need physical bodies on physical beaches, then they will all be robotic (or bionic), probably lots of them very small. Half-way to oblivion?