Artificial intelligence-powered ground vehicles will gradually transform Israel's ground combat capabilities when faced with adversaries deeply embedded in urban settings. Such adversaries are currently difficult to detect and respond to in time.
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In October, the Defense Ministry announced that, following a two-year selection process, Israel Aerospace Industries subsidiary Elta had been chosen as the prime contractor for its Carmel future combat vehicle program.
Yoav Turgeman, CEO of Elta, told JNS that the arrival of ground vehicles powered by artificial intelligence and with autonomous capabilities will likely begin to gradually dominate land missions just as unmanned aerial vehicles have done in air forces across the world in recent years.
"IAI is going back to what it did 50 years ago when it demonstrated the UAV. Initially, it was very difficult for air forces to accept this. Today, UAVs are active in every modern air force and conduct more flight time than manned aircraft," he stated.
After air forces recognized the technological and operational advantages of UAVs, they began to increasingly incorporate them into growing numbers of missions.
"I think this will be the same with future armored vehicles. This is a breakthrough concept that the IDF is leading, alongside very few states in the West," he added.
In a statement last month, the Defense Ministry said that the Defense Research and Development Directorate had selected IAI-Elta to lead the Carmel program and that development would be conducted in cooperation with the IDF's Ground Forces and the Defense Ministry's Tank and Armored Personnel Carrier Directorate.
According to the ministry, the objective of the move is to "significantly improve maneuvering capabilities. The Carmel concept will be applied to current and future armored fighting vehicles and will include crew members in closed hatches, operating a range of autonomous and AI-driven platforms."
Turgeman said IAI-Elta planned for two onboard personnel to replace the traditional four-person tank crew, thanks to the ability of the onboard computer "brain" to take over many key missions. The onboard crew will be able to "see through" thick steel, thereby eliminating the need to place their heads out of the hatchets in hazardous combat zones.
"This creates good situational awareness," Turgeman said. "Our solution is made up of a system and a process that makes decision-making easier. The tank can drive itself off-road as well and can recalculate its routes while dealing with obstacles. It does not require a human to drive it."
The Athena computer system that controls the vehicle uses a range of sensors to locate the enemy, analyze its firearms, scan multiple lines of sights, and then use that data to influence routes and operational decision-making. That data also influences the kind of firepower the system advises be activated and whether to drive forward to take cover.
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Athena presents all significant decision recommendations to a human operator for approval, said Turgeman. Ultimately, this enables the human operator to focus on the larger battle picture and ensure they are not distracted by technical matters, he explained. Instead of worrying whether their tank will hit a wall, where they are located on a map, or how to recalculate a route, the human operator can focus on managing the battle.
"Athena is a system that also receives data from external sensors; it plans courses of action from a variety of information," said Turgeman. It relies on AI and deep reasoning capabilities that IAI-Elta has been developing for years.
The Carmel model includes radars, advanced cameras, and systems that can detect the source of enemy fire. These sensors provide Athena with a continuous stream of data.
Asked if Carmel's technologies were currently being introduced into IDF systems, Turgeman said he would not "rule it out," but stressed that Carmel is more about capabilities than any individual single vehicle.
"These capabilities can go onto a number of platforms," he said.
Components of the Carmel future combat vehicle program will be integrated onto the Israel Defense Force's Eitan armored fighting vehicle, according to the Defense Ministry.
In an October statement, the Defense Ministry said that "many of the Carmel's capabilities will be autonomous, including travel, detection of threats, defense, and acquisition of targets. With its innovative user interface, soldiers in the vehicle will be able to view the battlefield in several dimensions. They will receive intelligence, detect threats, and acquire targets automatically, enabling them to effectively assess situations and make optimal decisions."
It noted: "The Carmel concept is groundbreaking on a global scale and has garnered the interest of many international industries and militaries."
"There are many interested parties, and we have received offers of cooperation from" major companies," Turgeman said. "We are examining these in coordination with the defense establishment."
Reprinted with permission from JNS.org.
