For Israel, Gaza conflict is evolutionary ground for robotic vehicles

JERUSALEM — When Israeli armored personnel carriers roll into combat zones in Gaza, at times they are missing a traditionally key feature: personnel.

That’s because for months now in the Gaza conflict, the Israel Defense Forces have reportedly been using and iterating on unmanned versions of multiple vehicles as technology has improved enough to put the platforms into combat situations while keeping more soldier out of harm’s way.

In recent cases, unmanned M113 APCs were reportedly spotted in use in the Rafah campaign that started in May — one purported use of the modified vehicle was caught on camera.

“There is utility in recycling [the vehicles] and finding a new purpose for them,” said a veteran of previous Israeli wars who said they witnessed the unmanned M113s operating in recent months. The veteran asked their name not be used for security reasons. “They are hearty to a certain extent. They can traverse a lot of terrain.” (The 60-year-old M113s is the older kind of APC employed by the IDF, which is now using Namer and the even new Eitan APCs.)

As far back as 2015 the website Israel Defense reported that an unmanned version of the M113 had been developed by a company called G-NIUS, a joint venture between IAI and Elbit Systems. Israeli news outlets have reported sightings of what appeared to be unmanned ground vehicles since at least February. Representatives for G-NIUS, Elbit Systems, IAI or the IDF commented about the M113 for this article.

RELATED: New tech plays role in Gaza war, but not to the level Israel once envisioned

In fact, the IDF declined to speak to Breaking Defense about its growing autonomous fleet and has generally been close-lipped about it. And while an official at defense industry giant IAI declined to discuss the M113s and some other systems, they were able to shed a little light on the broader strategy.

“We have developed upgraded version of robotic and autonomous systems for different kinds of vehicle platforms,” said Rani, who’s familiar with the systems but who requested his last name not be used for security reasons.

Rani said the transition from manned to unmanned vehicles involves integrating hardware and software, including sensors and processing in the vehicles so it has a kind of “brain” to help it and its remote operators make decisions.

“It’s a niche that requires suitability for robotics and autonomous capabilities for obvious reasons,” Rani said.

In addition to the logical modification of its controls, the veteran Israeli soldier told Breaking Defense some of the M113s have been modified to make them more combat-capable. Other variants of the M113 have also been pressed into service by the IDF as a platform for the 120mm mortar.

One platform Rani could talk about was the now-unmanned D-9 bulldozers used in Gaza, as revealed by the IDF in May.

“On this platform, we have the entire sensing equipment that is required to be able to control it remotely,” Rani said. “And we are doing some activities to avoid obstacles on the way and do different types of combat engineering missions such as route clearing or supporting in different ways the combat units.”

In May Israel’s Ynet outlet reported on the 50-ton unmanned bulldozers, dubbed “Pandas,” which it said take on engineering tasks like ground excavation, construction excavation, clearing rough terrain, setting up tank firing positions and pulling down buildings without the need for a human in the driver’s seat.

Other countries have worked with variants of remote controlled, unmanned, and uncrewed M113s, including the United States and Australia. Remote weapon stations have also been installed on them for use in Ukraine.

For a platform that dates from the 1960s, new technology appears to have given the relatively ancient platforms a new mission.