Originally Posted by
steamchicken
I am going to be the devil's advocate here and say that this happened for the first time some time during WW2 when the first proximity fuzed AA round destroyed an enemy aircraft, or if you want something that can steer, a bit later in WW2 when the Germans launched their first passive acoustic homing torpedo. In 1956 the Egyptians destroyed an Israeli destroyer with an SS-N-2 Styx SSM. When was the first kill with an air-to-air missile? Vietnam? Brimstone is autonomous in millimetre-wave homing mode. ALARM searched autonomously for its target.
That's not being devil's advocate, that's simply charting the progress to today. The current change is how the target is chosen. The 'how' may be opaque (AI) which if not carefully constructed may be as useful as WW1 mustard gas, as dangerous to the enemy as the allies.