Elbit unveils new armed robotic vehicle that Israel will test in 2023

JERUSALEM — Israel will subsequent 12 months start testing an unmanned fight car armed with a 30mm autonomous turret, the Protection Ministry introduced Monday in a information launch.

The disclosing of the Medium Robotic Fight Automobile comes within the wake of Israel saying it’s buying the Negeva fight car for its particular forces from Israel Aerospace Industries, and because the nation takes supply of the primary Eitan armored personnel service for its Nahal brigade. The acquisitions are a part of Israel’s give attention to synthetic intelligence and different autonomous applied sciences.

The M-RCV, proven off by Elbit Techniques on the Eurosatory protection expo in Paris this week, relies on the BLR-2 unmanned floor car made by Israeli agency BL. The turret was developed by the Tank and APC Directorate, which falls below the purview of the ministry’s Directorate of Protection Analysis and Improvement. The weapon is already in use on the nation’s new Eitan armored personnel service.

The M-RCV system additionally contains Elbit’s Iron Fist energetic safety system in addition to “a capsuled drone for ahead reconnaissance missions and a passive sensing equipment developed by Elbit Techniques and Foresight,” the ministry stated.

The robotic car additionally incorporates a “variety of cutting-edge applied sciences together with superior maneuvering capabilities, the flexibility to hold heavy and different mission masses, and a built-in system for transporting and receiving UAVs,” the ministry added.

A few of the technological options hail from Israel’s different two main protection corporations, together with a missile launcher by Israel Aerospace Industries and Spike missiles by Rafael Superior Protection Techniques. Rafael not too long ago unveiled a sixth-generation non-line-of-sight Spike variant, but it surely’s unclear what Spike sort will arm the M-RCV.

The brand new car is meant to have the ability to function in reconnaissance operations and in all-terrain circumstances, the ministry assertion learn, and in the course of the evening and day. “The system was developed as a part of the autonomous battlefield idea led within the DDR&D in collaboration with the Tank and APC Directorate whereas implementing an open structure for integrating future capabilities and integrating the robotic alongside different instruments and capabilities.”

Elbit, IAI, Rafael and the ministry didn’t present additional particulars of the M-RCV mission as of press time.

A video of the brand new car from the ministry describes it as a strong and deadly platform with multipurpose talents. The video reveals the M-RCV driving by fields and on grime roads, in addition to utilizing its gun with computerized goal recognition, that includes the flexibility to trace a number of targets and prioritize them.

The video additionally reveals the unmanned system launching a UAV utilizing a robotic arm, and incorporating autonomous driving with synthetic intelligence and scene-matching expertise for route planning. This permits the car to detect obstacles and take detours, as an illustration.

The BL platform on which the M-RCV relies is a six-wheel drive system. The corporate says the BLR is an “ongoing growth mission, for an unmanned floor car. The BLR affords excessive floor mobility, coupled with ‘drive by wire’ expertise, giving mission management the flexibility to regulate the car in a free management circuit.”

Earlier than its unveiling, a protection weblog recognized the BLR-2 being transported on a highway in an image posted to Twitter on Might 3. Protection Information was unable to independently confirm the photograph’s authenticity.

Israel has used unmanned floor autos earlier than. In 2012, the nation stated it was utilizing the Guardium UGV to patrol the fence between Israel and the Gaza Strip. In 2019, Elbit demonstrated an armored preventing car that could possibly be operated from a helmet-mounted show, noting on the time that these and different capabilities have been a part of a expertise demonstrator that included a “Pioneer preventing Unmanned Floor Automobile.” The turret on the car was a 30mm gun.

IAI unveiled the Rex MK II on the DSEI protection commerce present in London in 2021. The car has 4 wheels and might carry a 7.62mm gun. The Israel Protection Forces already use the corporate’s six-wheeled Jaguar.

In November 2021, Elbit Techniques and Roboteam introduced Rook, a six-wheeled UGV that makes use of Elbit’s Torch-X Robotics and Autonomous System. France, the U.Ok., Israel and the U.S. use the Torch-X system. At Eurosatory this week, Elbit showcased a brand new electro-optical payload referred to as Copas-L, which was built-in on a UGV on the Roboteam exhibit.