However, they are not just useful aides on the battlefield – they will also be able to launch offensives. The vehicles can also shift supplies without tying up soldiers, don’t sleep, unlike human troops, and take up little power when stationary.Īs with a smaller bomb disposal robot, and despite their tank-like size, these vehicles also offer a closer look at unknown threats compared to airborne drones. Robust and other self-driving tanks that are being developed are packed with cameras, microphones and other sensors, allowing them to send crucial battlefield intelligence back to base even when taking fire. “It is designed to conduct missions where you would prefer not to put people in harm's way,” says Martin Fausset, chief executive of Elbit Systems UK. The six-wheel giant, which runs on tyres rather than treads, looks like a cross between Wall-E and the Batmobile. The benefits are obvious: sending troops into a town filled with booby traps and snipers is a risk, but sending in a five-tonne tank that drives itself is much safer.Īs with the race to develop a self-driving car, there are plenty of companies seeking to be the first to put an autonomous tank on the battlefield.Įlbit Systems UK, part of the Israeli defence business of the same name, is among them.īetter known for its Watchkeeper surveillance drone developed with France’s Thales, Elbit’s Robust self-driving tank – or to give the vehicle its formal classification, a heavy uncrewed ground system (H-UGVs) - was among the vehicles tested by the Army in Dorset. The autonomous, heavily armoured vehicles that have been roaming the landscape are seen as the future of the battlefield, acting as outriders and scouts for the infantry.

Last month, the Army began trialling self-driving tanks at its Armoured Trials and Development Unit in Bovington, an army base that also hosts Britain's tank museum. Just outside of Dorchester, Dorset, the future of warfare is being tested.

Future of tanks in military