At start of modern era, gun powder weapons were hard to handle so specialists had to be hired. So the mercenary armies replaced the levy.
In the search to make weapons more affordable, they were improved till they were easily used by anyone who can breathe.
Then they were mass produced and used by conscript armies with little training.
At the end of cold war, the weapons became smarter, but not really usable by any conscript. So contract soldiers were preferred.
Next step will be to make these new weapons usable by any conscript, and they to do it is to use artificial intelligence.
This will democratize the violence.
Smaller actors will buy ready made solutions, armed their conscripts and attack big actors who use legacy system.
A drone with a smart algoieill trick air defenses, sneak into an airport and damage a plane.
This is seen in Ukraine war very often.
