A Hermes 900 drone, manufactured by the Israeli company Elbit Systems, at an airbase in Palmachim, Israel, July 5, 2023. (Credit: Jack Guez/AFP)
The chief of staff of the Israeli army, Gen. Eyal Zamir, announced plans to establish a fourth branch for “unmanned systems and artificial intelligence” (AI), according to Israeli media reports.
So far, the Israeli army has distributed the use of unmanned vehicles and AI across its ground forces, air force, and navy.
“The battlefield is changing at a dizzying pace, and we are changing with it,” Zamir said Tuesday during a graduation ceremony for naval officers.
“Maritime, land and aerial robotic capabilities will be developed. The capabilities that unmanned systems will provide will enable them to operate alongside manned combat teams or in independent missions. They will increase operational activity on the battlefield and save human lives,” he claimed.
Zamir also said he wants to make the Israeli army a “global leader” in the field, adding that the new branch would begin operating by early December.
Israel already uses unmanned drones and vessels, remote-controlled and armored vehicles converted into explosive-laden vehicles in Gaza and Lebanon.
An investigation published in April 2024 by the Israeli investigative magazine +972 and Local Call revealed the army’s use of AI to identify targets in Gaza. The investigation detailed the use of “Lavender,” a machine-learning system that generated kill lists by cataloging tens of thousands of Palestinians classified as suspected members of Hamas or Islamic Jihad.
Intelligence sources interviewed for the investigation said that, for many lower-level targets, human verification had been reduced to a few seconds and sometimes consisted essentially of confirming that the identified person was male. The investigation also reported that another system known as “Where’s Daddy?” tracked when these individuals returned home to facilitate strikes on their residences.
