Israel Reveals a New Autonomous Armed Robotic Vehicle to Test in 2023

The weapon will be used for advanced reconnaissance

In April of 2022, the Ministry of Defense of Israel tested its new laser-based missile defense system named Iron Beam, and now, the Ministry declared it would start testing a new robotic crewless combat vehicle on Monday that is under development with the collaboration of many Israeli arms companies, mentioned the Times of Israel.

An autonomous powerful weapon

The vehicle is named the Medium Robotic Combat Vehicle (M-RCV).

“The M-RCV’s abilities involve a very autonomous solution for ahead reconnaissance and regulated lethality in all-terrain conditions,” the ministry claimed in a statement. “It is functional in the day and night in all-weather scenarios while emphasizing functional performance, simplicity, minim operator intervention, and integration into heterogeneous unmanned arrays.”.

The weapon was unveiled initially at the Eurosatory defense expo in Paris and integrated several “cutting-edge technologies.” It features an anti-tank missile launcher and a system for sending and receiving drones. It also can transport weighty loads and execute advanced maneuvering capacities.

Numerous firms collaborated to construct the new weapon. The robotics platform was the work of BL Advanced Ground Support Systems. At the same time, a 30-millimeter machine gun turret was engineered by the Ministry’s Tank and APC Directorate, which falls under the competence of the Ministry’s Directorate of Defense Research and Development.

Furthermore, an active defense system was built by Elbit Systems, and the missile launcher, which can release Rafael the Israel Aerospace Industries, created Advanced Defense Systems’ “Spike” anti-tank missiles.

“The system was developed as a component of the autonomous combat zone notion led in the DDR&D in cooperation with the Tank and APC Directorate while executing an open architecture for integrating future capabilities and incorporating the robot alongside other equipment and capacities,” further said the Ministry.

A video that shows the M-RCV’s several capacities

A video from the Ministry reveals the M-RCV driving through various territories, including but not restricted to hard-to-tackle dirt roads, as well as utilizing its gun. The clip also shows the new weapon launching a UAV utilizing a robotic arm while incorporating autonomous driving and scene-matching technology for efficient route planning.

The Ministry further included that the BL platform on which the M-RCV is based is an “ongoing growth project, for a crewless ground vehicle. The BLR provides severe ground mobility, conjoined with ‘drive by wire’ technology, providing mission control the capacity to control the vehicle in a loose control circuit,” according to the organization.

Israel has utilized semi-autonomous robots before, particularly on the Gaza border. In June of 2021, the country implanted a new robot semi-autonomous device outfitted with 7.62-millimeter machine guns that can operate “24 hours a day, 7 days a week.”.

Read the original article on Interesting Engineering.

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