The RoBattle Is The 7-Ton Driverless Tank of the Future

It’s got remote controlled guns and can climb over anything.

Israeli Aerospace Industries (IAI) came to the 2016 Land and Airland Defense and Security tradeshow in Paris loaded with one impressive addition to the field of war: RoBattle. The company’s description of this driverless war machine reads is a prediction of things to come in warfare between advanced, western nations:

RoBattle, the newest member of the family of unmanned ground robotic systems from IAI, is equipped with a modular “robotic kit” comprised of vehicle control, navigation, RT mapping and autonomy, sensors and mission payloads. The system can be operated autonomously in several levels and configured with wheels or tracks, to address the relevant operational needs. Operators can equip RoBattle with different payloads including manipulator arms, Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance (ISR) sensors and radars, and remotely controlled weapons.

The company has also uploaded a silent video that simply shows footage of RoBattle from its beginning as an animated computer image to a working prototype easily conquering obstacles similar to what it might encounter on a real battlefield. 

Meir Shabtai, who is deputy general manager of ground robotics systems for IAI, believes RoBattle “will become a significant player in the ground robotics market.”

Seeing the way remote-controlled military drones have become such a staple of modern warfare, we’ve no doubt tanks like RoBattle will one day be in heavy use in ground conflicts as well. Hopefully nowhere near us.

h/t Popular Science