Drone Technology Takes Off

By Pierre Klochendler IPS News

The Association for Unmanned Vehicle Systems International (AUVSI) held its conference this month in Israel for the first time. Do future wars by land, sea and air belong to robots?

The modern battlefield pushes troops to their limit. Infantrymen haul heavy loads on their backs which hinders their combat performance.

The REX field-porter, a robot, might potentially, become the warrior’s best friend – it can now accompany field units in warzones, carrying 200 kg of gear.

Developed by the state-owned Israel Aerospace Industries (IAI), the remote-controlled platform is designed to enhance combat performance by increasing field supplies without increasing the soldier’s load.

“The focal point for development of unmanned systems for a long time, Israel punches above its weight,” notes Brett Davis, vice-president of communications at AUVSI.

During the 1973 war, Syrian missile batteries in Lebanon inflicted heavy damage on Israeli fighter jets. A year later, as part of lessons drawn from the war, Israel became the first country to launch a modern unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV) programme for real-time surveillance, electronic warfare and decoy.

David Harari pioneered IAI’s UAV programme. “The idea was to build a small system carrying a day camera for real-time information,” the senior consultant explains.

During Israel’s first Lebanon war (1982), UAVs (known as drones) were operated for the first time above the battlefield. Though more conventional observation posts were in use, images and radar decoy provided by the ‘Scout’ drone helped Israeli jets destroy some 30 anti-aircraft missile batteries and more than 80 MIGs. Not a single Israeli jet was downed.

“This was a discovery. Suddenly we’d manage a battlefield four-dimensionally, live,” Harari recalls. “It revolutionised the military doctrine.”

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