Israeli defense industry creates newest means to fight terrorism
For many decades, Israel has been fighting an adversary that has been using and constantly improving the strategy and tactics of a small guerrilla sabotage and terrorist war in combination with political and propaganda pressure on international public opinion. In October last year, I had a chance to visit the Jewish state and get acquainted with the novelties of its OPK, designed to prevent and suppress the actions of extremists.
But I will start with a story about the activities of the Institute for the Study of National Security (INS), located in the city of Herzliya. This is a private organization, which was created on the type of the American analytical corporation "Rand Corporation", which also fulfills the orders of the US government on the miscalculation of the possible development of military-political situations in the world, both global and local.
IINB is engaged in solving approximately the same problems, but on the instructions of non-state, mainly Israeli companies that are going to invest their capital in projects in problem regions in Asia, Africa and Latin America. For example, most recently, IINB conducted a lengthy seminar for employees of an international security firm that received a contract to protect the facilities of a multinational mining corporation in Kenya. The fact is that these objects are located in those regions of the country where local tribal gangs operate. The Institute has studied the possibilities of effectively countering them.
Now in the world in general there is a great demand for the services of private military companies (PMCs), which have their own armed formations, staffed by former special forces and elite military personnel with combat experience. In Iraq, such PMCs protect even the facilities of the American army from attacks, and in Africa and remote regions of Latin America - places of extraction of hydrocarbons for all international oil and gas corporations.
The IINS analysts, who have gained rich experience at work in the Israeli special services, are using it today to train security structures from different countries, taking into account the specifics of the places where they will have to act. But not only … IINB also closely monitors the situation in all the Arab states adjacent to Israel in order to identify emerging threats of a military and terrorist nature.
NANOTECHNOLOGIES GO INTO INTELLIGENCE
And now about a visit to the Israeli Aerospace Company - IAI, which is wholly owned by the state, although it does not receive money from the budget, but acts and is managed as a full-fledged subject of market relations. It was formed in the middle of the last century for the purpose of preventive maintenance and repair of aircraft in service with the military aviation of the Israel Defense Forces (IDF), as well as the creation of new machines for the country's air force. Gradually, with the accumulation of experience and capital, IAI developed its scientific and technical developments and production base, its activities became more and more diverse. Now the company is engaged in maintaining in working order, providing spare parts of its own production not only for combat aircraft, but also for civil aircraft, both in Israel and in many airlines in Europe and the United States. Builds light high-speed warships (by the way, the shipyard is located not on the coast, but in the desert, in the city of Beer Sheva, from where finished products are taken to the sea by special transport).
IAI manufactures and sells avionics all over the world (some of its types were installed on their Russian-made fighters by Indians with the permission of the Russian Federation). Israeli satellites are also from this corporation, it also produces civilian aircraft "Gulf Stream", which are considered American and are marked accordingly. But in fact, this is a completely Israeli development, the United States completely bought it, leaving all the production of aircraft in Israel, and they themselves are engaged only in selling them on the world market, guaranteeing their quality. It is impossible not to mention the American-Israeli anti-missile system "Air" ("Arrow"), which was also mainly created by the IAI team. Now the company's annual expenditures on R&D are about $ 1 billion, and the company itself spends $ 150 million, the rest is provided by the customers. Contracts are concluded for $ 4-5 billion per year, with Israeli orders accounting for only 30% of this turnover.
All the main divisions of the company are highly classified: to get there for an outsider, special permission from the Ministry of Defense is required. I was only allowed to talk to the office of one of the factories, and this is what I was able to find out.
Already in the early 90s, the Israeli army began to use unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) for reconnaissance in real combat. The first results turned out to be successful, and this direction began to be intensively developed. IAI, like other companies, began to receive orders for the development of drones, experimental samples were immediately tested in combat, fortunately, they never stop, unique experience quickly accumulated, which the Pentagon and the US military-industrial complex became interested in, connecting their financial and technical capabilities.
In parallel with this, there was the development of ground combat robotics, first for demining, and then as future soldiers of the battlefield, capable of conducting reconnaissance, as well as meeting the enemy with light weapons fire, leaving camouflaged shelters and ambushes. Moreover, it was the work on the UAV that gave a strong impetus to this direction, since it greatly developed communication and control systems for all types of robots, and also made it possible to create new types of actuators that made ground robots faster, more mobile and capable in terms of owning their weapons and performing other actions. …
In the IAI office, I was shown films in which soldiers literally launch small drones from their hands, conducting video reconnaissance of the enemy's territory and capable of very accurately adjusting artillery fire from closed positions, even if it is necessary to shoot from light portable mortars. They also showed me a film, which shows how the control of the border checkpoint receives a signal about an attempt to cross the border. Immediately near the place of violation from an ambush, on a signal from the remote control, a robot-cart quickly leaves and jumps to the intruder. The operator examines the intruder on his video screen and sends a signal either to scare him off with a noise grenade, or to destroy him with shots from an onboard weapon: a machine gun or a grenade launcher. A girl soldier sat in the operator's seat. And they introduced me to the samples already in service.
Now operating robotic systems are located mainly in the engineering units of the Israeli army, no less secret special forces. And operators for them are trained from recruits who have managed to prove themselves as successful gamers in computer games, so captivating today's youth.
IAI sees nanotechnology as the most promising opportunity for further development of combat robots. I had fun drawing such a fantastic picture in a conversation: birds that look like sparrows and even hummingbirds will fly in the enemy's position and are almost impossible to destroy, but they will perform video reconnaissance, fire adjustment and guidance tasks an order of magnitude better than current drones. In addition, the cost of such products will drop sharply. However, developments in the application of nanotechnology in robotics are now almost more classified than in the field of atomic weapons.
I asked my interlocutors how they feel about the fact that their robots can fall into the hands of the enemy, because these products are already being sold by them to many countries. To this I was told that the export is carried out with very great precautions and reservations, but the likelihood of misses cannot be ruled out, and such a flaw could cost the Israeli army dearly. However, the ability to neutralize their own robots in the hands of the enemy is already being worked out technically, but so far only in laboratories.
WORKSHOPS AT THE SERVICE OF THE MINISTRY OF DEFENSE
The main efforts in experimental military robotics are now beginning to focus on the creation of something like complex teams of robots of various types and purposes, this has already received the name "swarm". It is assumed that he will be able to almost completely perform the assigned combat mission without human intervention, that is, he must conduct reconnaissance, mine and demining the territory, make passes through obstacles, engage in battle, pursue the enemy, occupy, clear and defend the occupied territory until the main forces. In this he will be actively assisted by aviation, artillery, tanks and long-range missiles.
In addition to the creation of the robots themselves, the accuracy and reliability of communication systems and their control, as well as elements of artificial intelligence, are being worked out, thanks to which the swarm will be able to perform its main actions, as they say, on autopilot, without the participation of an operator, because even a group of operators is unable to fully control all the actions of the swarm in a combat situation. Operators should generally monitor the robots, using manual controls only in extreme cases. For example, this may be necessary when clearing settlements so that robots do not confuse enemy soldiers with civilians.
And representatives of the Israel Aerospace Company proudly said that in addition to its employees, it employs many other citizens of the Jewish state. Hundreds of microscopic factories with staff ranging from 5 to 20 people are working to fulfill IAI's orders. Most often it looks like this: in a small room such as a shed, hangar, garage, or even a former apartment on the first floor of a residential building, a universal high-precision machining center with electronic control is installed. This is a metal-working machine capable of being rebuilt for the manufacture of almost any part. This unit is supplied with something like a table with recesses, into which newly made products are inserted, and the electronic controller checks their compliance with the accuracy requirements by touching their measuring heads in certain places. The test results are immediately displayed on the laptop screen, which is controlled by the controller. The controllers are supplied by the British company "Renshaw", it also periodically checks and regulates them, keeps them under a permanent guarantee. The machining center is managed by one turner-operator, and the electronic controller is usually handled by a woman. Work goes on almost around the clock, in shifts.
An Israeli friend of mine worked in a workshop that made various decorative models of ships, airplanes, etc. as souvenirs. The main orders came from US firms. During the crisis, orders stopped, the workshop went bankrupt. Immediately, its building was acquired by a small company that received an order from IAI for the manufacture of mounts for antennas and video cameras that are installed on drones. Only six workers are employed. They put synthetic resins into special molds with the necessary composite parts and put these molds in small electric furnaces. After a while, the products are ready. From time to time people from the Ministry of Defense come to them, check compliance with the technological regimes and make random checks on the quality of products. These orders are paid very well, and there are also tax benefits.
Now in the world about 40 countries are engaged in the development of military robots - from the USA, Russia, Europe and China to Brazil and Egypt. Which clearly shows what kind of strategic perspective and significance this area of military-technical thought has.
ROY ROBOTS
The following situation looms throughout the world. In different countries, mainly in the Third World, terrorist formations of various orientations are becoming more and more active. Now the largest, most active and dangerous are the organizations of Islamic extremists, but there are still armed gangs of nationalists, neo-Nazis, leftists and simply criminal gangs, formed on a tribal or clan basis, engaged in drugs or robberies. All of these bandit groups use guerrilla warfare tactics in the countryside and sabotage from underground in cities.
No matter how trained specialists the terrorists may have, no matter what tricks they resort to, all the same, their weapons systems will be either light or homemade. Here one involuntarily recalls the statement from Pushkin's story "The Captain's Daughter" that rebels are never able to withstand "the right weapon". So we need to develop this "correct weapon". And the future swarms of robots are exactly what will be the most effective and correct means against terrorists. If now the military says that another tank is the best weapon against a tank, then, apparently, another robot will become the best weapon against a robot. And terrorists simply will not be able to manufacture their own robotic systems, because this requires so much money and such an industrial infrastructure that you cannot create them underground and in partisan parking lots. Suppose that, for example, Al-Qaeda would have the opportunity to purchase complexes of combat robots for its partisans, but they must be controlled, including through space communications, and this is easily suppressed by stationary army countermeasures, which the partisans, in turn will not be able to. And in general, any swarm of robots, if they fell into the wrong hands, can be easily neutralized with one signal, because all machines will be with elements of artificial intelligence, so their basic software can include an option almost according to Isaac Asimov's code: “A robot cannot inflict harm to its creator. " The basic software is built in hardware, that is, it can neither be removed nor reprogrammed, so one special signal will turn the whole swarm of robots into useless pieces of iron.
Thus, the terrorists will be doomed to fight the vehicles with their own manpower, which will greatly demoralize them and undermine the credibility of them among the local population.
If you equip army and police units with combat robots in countries where, for one reason or another, international terrorists have strong positions among the people, but the ruling elite of these states does not sympathize with them, this will raise the morale of government troops and greatly hamper the activities of the bandit leaders.
Historical military experience shows that it is most difficult to cope with partisans operating in mountainous and wooded areas and who come from the local population, which serves them as a favorable environment. It is in such conditions that the leaders of international terrorism are trying to base themselves in order to prepare the actions of their militants around the world in relative safety.
That is why, in creating future robotic complexes, one should focus on actions in the most difficult, mountainous and wooded areas. The swarms must go ahead of the spetsnaz units, in close cooperation with them. This tactic has already emerged and has saved many soldiers for the Americans in Iraq and Afghanistan. In the future, when nanotechnology develops, it will be possible, with the help of aviation, to "sow" forests and mountains with invisible beacons embedded in them by bandits, which will detect partisans, track their movements, direct and adjust high-precision weapon fire at them, and simply "mark" bandits, not giving them the opportunity to dissolve among the civilian population. And if it is possible to neutralize the "partisan lands" in the wooded mountains, then the possibilities of the urban terrorist underground will sharply decrease. Moreover, modern international terrorists can practically no longer count on secret support and assistance from some states, as was the case during the Cold War. Everywhere they already understood that, no matter how you feed the bandits, you still don't know when and at whom they will attack.
NORTH CAUCASUS AS A KNOW-HOW RANGE
Military robots are being developed in Russia, but, in my opinion, there are very good opportunities to dramatically expand and intensify this work. The most important issue here is financing. Napoleon was a thousand times right when he said that only three things are needed to be successful in a war: money, money and money! Therefore, I propose to use the experience of Israel in this regard. The Jewish state is constantly fighting off partisan and sabotage attacks. Having begun to widely use robotics for this, it attracted the attention of multinational financial and industrial corporations to this practice, interested in the development and development of the growing market for robots. And in Israel, it is almost an ideal testing ground for testing and refining any samples of military robots. Therefore, money and technologies are already going there, which have begun to pay off. Moreover, robotics is an ideal dual-use scheme. On the basis of military models, there is an intensive production of civilian robots - rescue, firefighters, sanitary robots. And in the future, it is possible to create robotic complexes that can replace a person in dirty, low-prestige and low-paid physical jobs, competing with guest workers from developing countries.
I believe that in Russia, too, there are opportunities for using the above-described robots, no worse, and maybe even better than Israeli ones. Bandit groups roam the mountain forests of the North Caucasus, part of the local population sympathizes with them, there is an extremist underground in the cities there. In addition, there is huge unemployment and a low standard of living in the Caucasus.
Robotic complexes against terrorists are police weapons that are not intended for large interstate wars. Therefore, it is quite possible to attract money, technology and specialists from abroad to its development. The North Caucasus is perfect as a testing ground for military robots; at the same time, many small enterprises can be created there that would manufacture components for assembly plants. There are enough good specialists-developers of robotics in Russia, and it is able to take a very worthy place in this market. And the market is extremely attractive. All armies and special services of the world are waiting for military robots, as well as security formations of international transnational corporations operating in problem regions. And after all, a stage will come when robots will massively enter all layers of civil life, especially in production areas.
In conclusion, I would like to say that I am not an expert on terrorism and weapons. And I know that my opinion, set out in this material, can be considered superficial. But nevertheless, I am convinced that the fact that in these areas is already noticeable to a superficial glance, deserves the close attention of military professionals and statesmen.
