The author seems to imagine that autonomous robots are not going to be used in conflicts within the next decade, and I think this is a naive point of view given the amount of research effort and money going into this specific area. From the point of view of military organisations and the governments which control them the argument in favour of using such robots will be compelling, regardless of any ethical concerns that an easily dismissed minority might raise. Policy documents are not immutable, and you'll find that they can be rewritten pretty fast when there is a perceived need to do so.