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The front line in the wars of the future will be machines. A massive, unmanned air force will scour the skies over a city, while robots will patrol the streets, quickly discriminating between an enemy carrying a gun and a civilian carrying a child.

Only then will human beings arrive, protected by fast armoured vehicles that are half the weight of today’s tanks but just as strong and ground troops who will have robot mules carrying their equipment for them.

This was the vision of the future set out by the Ministry of Defence as it launched its Defence Technology Plan (DTP) on Wednesday. The plan is a wish list of cutting-edge battlefield kit that the government wants businesses, academics and inventors to create for a new, high-tech armed forces.

Among the ambitious aims the MoD will help to fund is the creation of a “Future Protected Vehicle”, a lightweight transport that, at 30 tonnes, would be half the weight of current battlefield tanks. They might have “glass cockpits”, where a panoramic screen inside the the vehicle would give soldiers a 360-degree view of events outside, without ever having to venture out of the protection of the tank.

Another key project is the “Novel Air Concept”, the creation of a fleet of cheap, unmanned drones that are capable of reaching targets 1,000km inside enemy air space - the distance from London to Milan - and can be launched from military vessels at sea. The MoD hopes to have working versions of these ideas in the next 5 to 10 years.

Launching the plan today, Quentin Davies, Minister for Defence Equipment and Support, said new technology would never replace the need for real soldiers out on the battlefield: “We’re not taking the human being out of the process. We’re hoping to give the individual the maximum amount of information, firepower and protection in whatever they’re doing.”

He said another important project was to reduce the load of a soldier, who currently carry up to their own bodyweight in equipment. The aim is for an individual soldier to carry no more than 25kg.

“Can you imagine plodding around in 40-degree temperatures, under fire, diving into a ditch in a hurry, all while wearing 70kg in equipment?” said Mr Davies. “It’s a major priority to lighten the burden.”

Ideas floated to achieve this included everything from the use of new lightweight body armour, to creating robot mules that would follow soldiers and transport equipment over any terrain.

The grand plan was launched alongside prototypes of gadgets and gizmos built by small companies, which the MoD announced will receive around £2 million in funding to develop into battle-ready equipment.

Among them was Testudo, a small robot that can be carried in a backpack, and looks like a camouflaged turtle on wheels. It can reach speeds of up to 40mph and scout a warzone quickly while being controlled from hundreds of metres away. Its in-built camera can point in any direction and its zooming ability means it can read the name badge of a soldier from 200 metres.

Though it seems to represent the latest in technology, Testudo is very cheap in military terms, costing a few thousand pounds each. Built entirely from off-the-shelf parts, the prototype was even controlled by an Xbox video game controller.

Ken Maclauchlan, programme director of Mindsheet, the small Hampshire-based company that developed Testudo, said: “If you imagine a small platoon, if they get to a choke point or a pass on the road - this is cheap enough to be fairly disposable. So you stick it into the firing line first.”

Another new innovation was “D30,” a shock-absorbing material with the consistency and lightness of Play-Doh. Once hit at high speed however, the material stiffens up, but remains flexible at all other times.

“Its a bit like a body-builder tensing his stomach,” said Richard Palmer, the founder of D30 lab, which created D30. “So you use it when you want flexibility and movement, but it will also provide high-level shock absorption.”

To prove the point, Mr Palmer invited The Times to bash his knees - which were protected by padding made of the material - with a garden spade.

“You can hit me harder than that if you want,” he said. A real life soldier in full fatigues watched on, looking impressed.

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