The U.K. could come to rely on 30,000 “robot soldiers” in its army to work alongside humans in and around the frontline by the next decade,  the head of Britain’s armed forces said Sunday.

In an interview with Sky News, Gen. Nick Carter said the armed forces needed “to think about how we measure effects in a different way” — including the use of remotely controlled machines.

"I think you are going to see an armed forces that's designed for the 2030s," he told Sky News. "You won't get there overnight but that's the direction of travel."

"I suspect we can have an army of 120,000 of which 30,000 might be robots, who knows,” he added.

"But the answer is we need to open our minds to perhaps numbers not determining what we should be doing but rather the effect that we can achieve, is really what we should be looking for."

According to the Guardian, investment in robot warfare was to have been at the heart of a five-year defense review, until Chancellor of the Exchequer Rishi Sunak, last month postponed a spending review.

The army has  struggled with recruitment for several years, with the current trained strength at 73,870, well below a target of 82,050 — a number that was expected to be cut, with technology being used to plug some of the gaps, the Guardian reported.

All Britain’s armed forces have been engaged in a string of research projects involving small drones or remotely powered land or underwater vehicles, some of which are armed and others for reconnaissance, the Guardian reported.

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