Israeli Robots Remake Battlefield

Israeli Robots Remake Battlefield

Jan. 13, 2010
Wall Street Journal
By Charles Levinson

TEL AVIV, Israel –

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 high-tech industry have long made Israel one of the world's leading innovators
of military robotics.

"We're trying to get to unmanned vehicles everywhere on the battlefield for each platoon in the field,"
says Lt. Col. Oren Berebbi, head of the Israel Defense Forces' technology branch.
"We can do more and more missions without putting a soldier at risk."

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., one of Israel's leading weapons manufacturers.

"We are moving into the robotic era," says Mr. Katz.


Over 40 countries have military-robotics programs today. The U.S. and much of the rest
of the world is betting big on the role of aerial drones: Even Hezbollah, the Iranian-backed Shiite
guerrilla force in Lebanon, flew four Iranian-made drones against Israel during the 2006 Lebanon War.

When the U.S. invaded Iraq in 2003, it had just a handful of drones. Today, U.S. forces have
around 7,000 unmanned vehicles in the air and an additional 12,000 on the ground, used for tasks
including reconnaissance, airstrikes and bomb disposal.

In 2009, for the first time, the U.S. Air Force trained more "pilots" for unmanned aircraft than
for manned fighters and bombers.




The Pentagon set aside its long-held skepticism about the advantages of unmanned aircraft and,
in the early 1980s, bought a prototype designed by former Israeli Air Force engineer Abraham Karem.
That prototype morphed into the modern-day Predator, which is made by General Atomics Aeronautical
Systems Inc.


However, there are also fears that when countries no longer fear losing soldiers' lives in combat,
thanks to the ability to wage war with unmanned vehicles, they may prove more willing to initiate conflict.




Link to full story

Roxxxy made a splash in vegas

so what if people won't fight their robots and bombe their cities instead?

what if the robots can't survive their evil twin : biological chemical warfare ....
poor robots, we, as a people, can be so heartless

it will get all terminator-y if we are not careful.

or like surogates

jamesjchrist wrote:

it will get all terminator-y if we are not careful.

or like surogates

really, god created us and look what we've done to his earth. just think what our creations could do to us

KK wrote:

jamesjchrist wrote:

it will get all terminator-y if we are not careful.

or like surogates

really, god created us and look what we've done to his earth. just think what our creations could do to us

we will be FUBAR

jamesjchrist wrote:

KK wrote:

jamesjchrist wrote:

it will get all terminator-y if we are not careful.

or like surogates

really, god created us and look what we've done to his earth. just think what our creations could do to us

we will be FUBAR

ok, i had to look that one up

KK wrote:

ok, i had to look that one up

Good news ... in the future, when you are a bionic man,
all you'll have to do is tilt your head slightly to the left
...and bingo

c/thru wrote:

KK wrote:

ok, i had to look that one up

Good news ... in the future, when you are a bionic man,
all you'll have to do is tilt your head slightly to the left
...and bingo

based on my knee, i'm already bionic

KK wrote:

c/thru wrote:

KK wrote:

ok, i had to look that one up

Good news ... in the future, when you are a bionic man,
all you'll have to do is tilt your head slightly to the left
...and bingo

based on my knee, i'm already bionic

I have the bionic power of being able to run in slow motion.

java wrote:

KK wrote:

c/thru wrote:

KK wrote:

ok, i had to look that one up

Good news ... in the future, when you are a bionic man,
all you'll have to do is tilt your head slightly to the left
...and bingo

based on my knee, i'm already bionic

I have the bionic power of being able to run in slow motion.

i have the bionic power of not being able to run at all