UAVs will receive a voice assistant function that will allow them to communicate with soldier-operators.
Israel is developing a system that will allow ground forces to use voice commands to control combat UAVs. Details reported by Defensenews.com.
The system is called Casper and must be a member of a “team” of human operators and “intelligent” drones, according to a spokesperson for the Defense Research and Development Directorate of the Israeli Ministry of Defense. He noted that the system should recognize not only simple commands such as “forward/backward”, but also commands such as “keep my side”. In theory, a reconnaissance aircraft should be able to “respond” to an attack aircraft operator or report what it’s doing, for example, the machine could send a message like: “I’m observing an object at an angle of 90 degrees.”
Casper currently only knows Hebrew, but will be able to understand other languages in the future. The official said that 80 percent of the functionality is for flight control, and the remaining 20 percent will allow communication during intelligence gathering or target tracking.
“We realized we needed a new approach to operating systems on the battlefield, because a soldier needs to hold a gun, not a laptop,” he said.
The publication reports that the initial development phase of Casper will be completed soon, and now the AI algorithm recognizes about 20 commands. The system is expected to be operational in the next few years. The Israeli Ministry of Defense has implied that the system will become a link between the control of manned (air force) and unmanned (ground forces) vehicles and will be applied to the needs of the IDF everywhere.
Elbit Systems is currently working on the government’s Edge of Tomorrow program, which combines new technologies to increase troop situational awareness. The material says that these technologies are developed on the basis of artificial intelligence, machine learning, include augmented reality functionality, and theoretically, the program also includes the development of a voice assistant.
“A few seconds on the battlefield can change everything, someone loses their life, a mission can go off the rails,” said Bradley Bowman, director of the Washington-based Center for Political-Military Research at the Defense Defense Foundation. Democracy.. “By eliminating the need to look at the tablet’s screen and thus distracting, voice commands can save time and increase soldiers’ situational awareness. It will save lives.”
Retired Major General Eitan Dangot, a senior fellow at the Jerusalem Institute for Strategy and Security, said the IDF is working to improve the maneuverability of ground forces, particularly in urban areas. He noted that this was due to “lessons learned during the conflict in Gaza in 2014 and during the hostilities in Lebanon in 2006”.
Saying that advanced technologies such as Casper will be used more and more, Bowman noted that the USA should hurry to develop such a product, otherwise China could gain an advantage by getting ahead of the USA. Bowman expressed hope that Israeli experts will help the Americans and that the development process will move faster. He reminded that Congress allowed the creation of a working group between the US Department of Defense and the Israeli Ministry of Defense in November last year.
Earlier, we reported that the defenders of Ukraine used homemade drones on the battlefield, and moreover, it was very successful.
Source: Riafan
