The Israeli Ministry of Defense plans to begin testing the Medium Robotic Combat Vehicle (M-RCV) next year. The robotic tank presented by Elbit Systems last week at the Eurosatory defense and security exhibition in Paris should be a demonstration of the country’s advanced technologies, reports New Atlas.

With only 169,500 active-duty troops forced to operate in urban areas and rugged country, the Israeli Defense Forces prefer to follow the doctrine of loss minimization. As a result, Israel is very interested in defense and robotic systems that eliminate the human element.

Developed by the Israel Defense Ministry’s Defense Research and Development Office (DDR&D), the Tanks and Armored Vehicles Administration, and the Israeli security industry, the robotic tank is built on a new robotic platform type BLR-2 manufactured by Israeli company BL.

The Elbit Systems robotic tank has:

30-mm autonomous gun, originally developed by the Tank and APC Directorate for the Eitan armored personnel carrier;
Elbit Iron Fist Active Protection System, which is a smaller, mounting version of the Iron Dome shock protection system;
Fire control and task management system;
A set of instructions for stand-alone operations;
Active and passive sensors for situation analysis

In addition, the robotic vehicle has an encapsulated drone that it can deploy for advanced reconnaissance missions. The tank can carry a variety of heavy cargo, as well as the Israeli Aerospace Industries missile system and Rafael Advanced Defense Systems Spike missiles.

According to Elbit, the robot can work in any weather in mostly autonomous mode and can integrate with other unmanned units on the battlefield. Field tests of the robotic tank according to representative scenarios are planned to begin in 2023.