The IDF has introduced into service during the Gaza war, thousands of remote activated weapons systems in land air and sea, and even underwater. Some of the systems made their first appearance ever on the battle field, exhibiting the innovations developed by the Defense Ministry.
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One such weapon - The Panda excavator - was put to use on the first day of the war, for the Engineering Corp's mission to locate and destroy Hamas tunnels. It is a remotely run machine developed by the Israel Aircraft Industries (IAI)
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IDF introduces unmanned weapon systems in Gaza war
(Photo: EPA, Yariv Katz, Yoav Zitun)
The military recently introduced into the battlefield unmanned APC's based on the IDF's M-113, that are able to carry munitions to great distances allowing the ground forces the logistical support to carry out their missions. This has proven very effective in the fighting in Gaza.
The APCs have also proven useful in detecting and eliminating terrorists, in cooperation with forces in the air, and are operated by dedicated staff employing sensors inside the vehicle.
The same technology could be adapted to other armored vehicles including tanks but the IDF has not yet decided to put those capabilities into action and believes that they would be more effective in their fire power if manned by troops.
The unmanned systems are being used to detect and destroy the enemy and the military's technological development arm has adapted dozens of drones to carry out surveillance inside buildings, apartments, rooms and tunnels. Some of them are also armed and able to discharge fire power at their targets.
The IDF said more than 100 terrorists were killed by the Maoz attack drones, used mostly by commando forces. These elite units also used drones able to discharge grenades able to attack 4 or 5 targets per mission, with fatal results.
The technology to investigate the underground tunnel system built by Hamas in Gaza was made operational by the Engineering Corps elite unit Yahalom. "The underground offensive is conducted with surgical precision not least because of the possible presence of hostages held there by the Hamas terrorists, " the IDF said.
After both Hamas in the south and the Hezbollah terror group in the north destroyed the IDF's observation facilities, they were quickly replaced by new technologies that have been in development for the past two years.