Israel unveiled options Sunday for its "combat vehicle of the future" – a tank with large touchscreens, 360-degree vision and, in one prototype, a video game-style controller.
The ministry of defense is aiming to procure an armored vehicle that can be operated by two soldiers instead of four with the hatch closed, something officials involved in the project say would be a unique achievement.
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The ministry tasked three Israeli companies – state-owned Israel Aerospace Industries and Rafael Advanced Defense Systems, along with Elbit Systems – with drumming up ideas.
The so-called Carmel project, launched three years ago, aims to develop not the vehicle itself, but its brains and sensors, which can be installed into existing tanks. All three firms succeeded in reducing the number of soldiers to two.
The vehicles also have options for autonomous driving and target identification with the help of sensors and cameras, along with artificial intelligence and other features.
"This is a revolutionary concept based on cutting-edge technology," Brig. Gen. Yaniv Rotem, head of the Defense Ministry's research and development branch, told journalists.
"Many countries and many armies are looking for the armored vehicles of the future," Rotem said.
Israel – which has long eyed a future robot army as a means of reducing the use of soldiers on its combustible fronts with Gaza, Lebanon and Syria, just as its air force has increasingly relied on pilotless drones – demonstrated options for the project to US military representatives on Sunday and plans to do the same for other countries.
"Now the people will be sitting in the tank, it's closed, they are far better protected, and they can advance without worrying about snipers or other things," Rotem added.
Asked why Israel was not eliminating human involvement entirely and operating the vehicles remotely, Rotem told reporters: "At the end of the day, it is the man in the vehicle who makes the decision. You need someone who thinks more than a machine."
The Defense Ministry, he said, was separately devoting "a lot of discussion" to a potential robot army of the future.
"Our vision [is], 30 years from now, a lot of autonomous capability," he said.
A second defense official said that while the "smart-tank" prototypes could, in theory, be remote-operated, disruptions or delays in the signal would potentially impede their effectiveness in battle.
Two of the competing systems appeared inspired by video games and other home technologies, are seen as appealing to young soldiers.
Israel Aerospace Industries has Xbox-style controls. Rafael has a vehicle simulator with touch-screens and animation whose terrain and characters' garb recall Afghanistan – a nod to the US Army representatives.
Elbit Systems, meanwhile, came up with adapted air force helmets whose inside visors provide a 360-degree view of the vehicle's exterior. Rotem said Israel was already incorporating the helmets among its Merkava tank crews.
