At first glance, there is nothing unusual in the bulky bulldozer that turns the ground on a test site in the center of Israel, but as it came closer, it has become clear: the driver’s cabin is strangely empty.
It is the Robdozer, a remotely fortified engineering vehicle, and in this case, operated on a military exhibition halfway around the world in Alabama.
Army engineers and military experts say that the Robdozer – the robotic version of the Bulldozer D9 of Caterpillar – is the future of automated combat.
The Israeli army uses D9 for years to perform front line tasks such as Truery roads to advance the troops, remove the rubble and flatten the land, but since the war in Gaza broke out in October 2023, and later in Lebanon, the Israeli army has increasingly deployed its robotic troops in an offer to improve its field operations and reduce its troops.
“The idea is to eliminate the person from the Bulldozer cockpit,” said Rani, whose team from Israel Industries Israel Industries has developed the Robdozer.
During the Gaza War, the soldiers have more and more opted for the unmanned version, which can perform a full range of “even better than a human,” said Rani, using its first name only for security reasons.
A engineer from the Israel Aerospace Industries (IAI) explains how the Military Bulldozers D9 unmanned during a demonstration to the press in a field near Tel Aviv on March 26, 2025. (Gil Cohen-Magn / AFP)
Although these vehicles and other systems are currently exploited by humans, future versions could be autonomous, which raises ethical and legal concerns concerning an unusual future of war being shaped by the Israeli Gaza War army.
‘Change the paradigm’
The growing use of Israel of cutting -edge technologies on the battlefield, air defense systems to a wide range of AI intelligence tools, has been well documented but also criticized for inaccuracies, the lack of human surveillance and the potential violations of international law.
Analysts claim that the growing Israeli deployment of Robdozer reflects larger global trends towards automation in heavy combat vehicles, such as remote -controlled staff who work a bit like drones.
An air vehicle without Israeli pilot (UAV or Drone) flies on Rafah in the South Gaza Strip on January 3, 2024, during the current conflict between Israel and the Hamas terrorist group. (AFP)
An Israeli military official, who asked anonymity to discuss sensitive issues, told AFP that the army has used “robotic tools for more than a decade, but in very small numbers. Now it is used in a large -scale war. ”
Troops can now use machines without having to enter the enemy territory, said the manager.
Andrew Fox, a retirement major of the British army and researcher at the Henry Jackson Society, based in London, said that the Israeli army was probably the first force to use remote -controlled combat machines in an active war zone.
“It is a very important development” which “changes the paradigm” of the war, performing tasks as effectively, but at a well reduced risk to staff, he said.
A new era of war
“It is the future,” said John Spencer, president of urban war studies at the Institute of Modern War of the American army in West Point.
Many “experienced it, but no one saw direct deployment in an active modern fight,” he added. “It’s very unique.”
But beyond the ethical and legal disadvantages to such advanced technology, it is also necessary for a dominant human presence to make decisions in particular in unusual situations.
The attack of October 7, 2023 – When some Hamas terrorists violated the high security border to invade southern Israel, where he killed some 1,200 people and took 251 hostages, starting the Gaza war – was a disastrous example for this, Tal Mimran said of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem.
The Gazans celebrate with an Israeli reservoir destroyed at the broken border fence of Israel-Gaza, east of Khan Younis, October 7, 2023. (AP / Yousef Masoud)
“I think that October 7 has shown us that you can build a wall that could cost $ 1 billion, but if you don’t patrol the border, then someone will infiltrate your country,” said Mimran, a lecturer and researcher of international law who closely followed the technological developments of the Israeli army.
“We have to take note of technology opportunities and risks,” he said. “This is the era in which artificial intelligence explodes in our lives, and it is natural that it also has a manifestation in the field of security.”
