Israel developing robot army to meet battlefield needs

MELBOURNE - To meet their battlefield needs without putting soldiers at risk, Israel is developing an army of robotic fighting machines that offers a window onto the potential future of warfare.

Sixty years of near-constant war, a low tolerance for enduring casualties in conflict, and its hi-tech industry has long made Israel one of the world’s leading innovators of military robotics, The Wall Street Journal revealed.

“We’re trying to get to unmanned vehicles everywhere on the battlefield for each platoon in the field. We can do more and more missions without putting a soldier at risk,” the paper quoted Lt. Colonel Oren Berebbi, head of the Israel Defense Forces technology branch, as saying.

In 10 to 15 years, one-third of Israel’s military machines will be unmanned, predicts Giora Katz, vice president of Rafael Advanced Defense Systems Ltd, the Australian reports.

“The Israelis do it differently, not because they’re more clever than we are, but because they live in a tough neighborhood and need to respond fast to operational issues,” said Thomas Tate, a former US Army lieutenant colonel who now oversees defense cooperation between the US and Israel.

Among the recently deployed technologies that set Israel ahead of the curve is the Guardium unmanned ground vehicle, which now drives itself along the Gaza and Lebanese borders, the paper revealed. (ANI)