Israel Planning Advanced Autonomous Robot Combat Unit By 2025

Steve Trimble of Aviation Week reported recently that Israel is planning to develop the capability to deploy uncrewed, autonomous combat systems, which will distance the human warfighter from the battlefront in order to save lives. 

“A secret acquisition program in Israel seeks to achieve a new level of uncrewed combat systems, with human soldiers operating safely from a standoff distance as they control an armed vanguard of uncrewed air and ground vehicles in direct combat with enemy forces. The ‘Standoff In’ (SOI) capability is now under development after the Israel Defense Ministry awarded a prized contract on June 13 to Israel Aerospace Industries (IAI), according to sources.”  Some commentators have questioned the feasibility of using autonomous robotic systems in complex, close-quarters combat scenarios, such as in urban environments, where the ability to scale operations with non-lethal means may be required. Story and image courtesy of Aviationweek.com. For details, please see the Aviationweek.com article.