LTC Leon Altarez on Robotics In The Battlefield
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LTC Leon Altarez, PEO Robotics, Land Force Command, spoke at the AUS&R 2015, which took place on September 7th, on the challenges the army is facing in integrating robotics in the battlefield as well as future solution to those challenges.
In ground battles, says Altarez, there are two main challenges: Mobility and survivality of the vehicles. There is a need to take on both the enemy and obstacles in the vehicles’ motion range. Robots can move in the front of the force, thus preventing unnecessary casualties. Whereas in the past it seemed that robots alone will be entered into battle, we now understand that robots will never fully replace soldiers, but merely assist them.
Robots can help keep borders safe, open axes (heading the force deployed in enemy territory), be used by the world of engineering – meaning to handle obstacles in the field and approve routes. Robotics can also assist in urban warfare (such as with scanning houses before fighters enter).
Using robotics in the battlefield gives rise to a number of central challenges. First, while developing the robots there is always tension between operational needs and the existing budget which causes struggle to get results as well as keep operating safe. Also, the efficiency of land robots is not yet proven (compared to the air force, where robots are considered highly reliable). Another ground challenge is dealing with obstacles such as vegetation which might disrupt communications between operator and robot (although technology designed to solve this is already in use). Another challenge is the need of high quality manpower in order to operate these robots.
The land force command is looking to invest in certain areas, especially in building trust between the fighters who are to be operators and their robots. The vision is to achieve independent robots who are practically without operators and accessible to the army with relatively low cost, as well as user friendly platforms that are easily operated by the fighter.
