Very Interesting Comment on the Lawfare Drone Smackdown

I just received a very interesting email from Major John Harwood, USAF, whom I met recently at the MILOPS Conference in Singapore, in response to my post this morning about the coming Drone Smackdown:

I love the Drone Smackdown, and even better, you've established your own LOAC. "No drone can be attacked while it is on the ground either following a crash or during its battery-change-break." In other words, when a drone is hors de combat, no deliberate targeting. There's gotta be a law review article in here somewhere---do we as humans have an innate need to create laws to govern conflicts? Even the UFC (a mixed martial arts association) had to do away with its no-holds-barred approach. Is there any form of combat, or even mock combat, that does so without rules? Good luck at the Smackdown. I bet $200 on your entry.

In a subsequent email, Major Harwood poses the following question: "once we have fully automated robots involved in conflict, will we also extend hors de combat protections to them?"