https://www.jpost.com/defense-and-tech/article-893843
IDF robot wars against Hezbollah in southern Lebanon
The IDF has ramped up its use of robots in warfare against Hezbollah
The IDF has escalated the use of robots in warfare against Hezbollah in Bint Jbail, it recently reported.
The robots are being used to speed up the pace of destroying Hezbollah's weapons infrastructure, given that it is unknown how long diplomatic developments will allow the military to operate in southern Lebanon, the IDF said.
Yahalom, the commando unit of the IDF Combat Engineering Corps, has placed robots in Hezbollah tunnels and other hard-to-reach areas. Photos taken by the robots have sped up the process for destroying the terrorist group’s long-term infrastructure, the IDF said.
This is not the first time the IDF has used robots in war.
The Israel-Hamas War in 2023-2025 was the first-ever robotics war, according to Col. (ret.) Yaron Sarig, head of the AI and Autonomy Program Executive Office of MAFAT within the Defense Ministry.
“This is the first robotics war,” he said last December. “In this conflict, we have mobilized our entire defense ecosystem and deployed tens of thousands of autonomous systems across the battlefield – from drone swarms to agile ground robotics distributed across vast areas.”
Although remotely controlled drones and some other systems have been used for a longer period of time, thousands of kilometers of the invasion in Gaza were carried out by robotic systems, Sarig said at the International Defense Tech Summit sponsored by the Defense Ministry’s Directorate of Defense Research and Development and Tel Aviv University’s Yuval Ne’eman Science, Technology and Security Workshop.
Robots used during Israel-Hamas War to locate tunnels
The robotic systems have become much more diverse and standardized, he said, adding that they are being deployed in much higher volumes to assist with exploring Hamas tunnels instead of risking soldiers’ lives from doing so.
In addition, remote vehicles were used to enter new areas above ground to crash into Hamas positions or to intercept and spring ambushes, enabling soldiers to know where concealed Hamas fighters were located, Sarig said.
Moreover, robots were used with artificial intelligence to improve the quality of detection and tracking of Hamas terrorists in the field on a much broader and more advanced level, he said.
“The AI and Autonomy PEO, working in coordination with the IDF, has accelerated innovative developments from start-ups, defense contractors, and research institutions, with the goal of integrating them into the operational theater and maintaining our relative advantage on land, in the air, and at sea,” Sarig said.
“We are only at the beginning of this revolution,” he said. “In the coming years, driven by operational necessity, we will significantly expand our robotic capabilities. Robotics serves as a critical bridge to the world of AI, which, looking forward, will be integrated into every weapon system and into the operational capability of every soldier.”
During the Iran War last June and in its aftermath, Israel managed to carry out multiple revolutions, regarding drones and using robots to speed up air-defense interceptor production, the Defense Ministry reported last July.
Moreover, greater integration of robots and automated services into the production process of Arrow 2 and 3 interceptors has tremendous potential to reduce the costs of each interceptor so that Israel can purchase a larger number in the future than it has in the past, ministry officials said at the time.
https://www.jpost.com/defense-and-tech/article-893843
