Israel to deploy ‘remote’ controlled tanks to Gaza border

Radio Islam

Israel on Sunday unbaled the results of its ‘carmel’ project to ‘modernise’ its tank equipment. Three companies, Israel Aerospace Industries and Rafael Advanced Systems (both State-owned and Elbit Systems), demonstrated military tanks that they said could be operated remotely and driven autonomously, with the sensors being retrogradely hittable to existent tanks. These new technologies raise questions over privacy, real-time artificial intelligence-based decision-making, and the lack of internationally recognised laws on combat and war with autonomous weaponry. Speaking to Radio Islam, Professor Noel Sharkey, Emeritus Professor at Sheffield University and an expert on machine learning and the ethics of robotic warfare, who has written over 150 articles on the topic and is currently working with the United Nations, pointed out that this was not the first time Israel sought to deploy such autonomously controlled combat equipment.