IAI’s pioneering approach to manned combat integration: Weapons and Warfare

Feb 19, 2025 at 03:00 AM CST

The team explored IAI's cutting-edge technologies that enhance situational awareness and operational efficiency in manned combat scenarios. — Image credit: IAI

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This week on Weapons and Warfare, the team took an in-depth look at how Israel Aerospace Industries (IAI) is pioneering the future of military operations with its innovative approach to integrating autonomous capabilities with manned combat systems. Host Ryan Robertson explored IAI’s cutting-edge technologies that enhance situational awareness and operational efficiency on the battlefield.

From unmanned aerial vehicles to advanced command and control systems, IAI is at the forefront of shaping modern warfare.

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Also featured in this episode:

The new secretary of defense starts meeting the troops.
U.S. and South Korean forces hold live-fire exercises.
American & Russian next-gen fighters are pictured together.
The weapon of the week is the Remotely Operated Ground Unit for Expeditionary Fires, or ROGUE-FIRES, from Oshkosh Defense. We’ll explore how ROGUE-FIRES combines robotics with artillery for fire support while reducing risks to personnel.

You can subscribe to the Weapons and Warfare podcast on the platform of your choosing here.

Ryan Robertson is the anchor of the Straight Arrow News video podcast Weapons and Warfare. He wore many hats in his career — from photographer to news director — and firmly believes honest journalism will save our Republic.

Tags: Department of Defense, Military Defense, Pete Hegseth, U.S. military

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[RYAN ROBERTSON]

HELLO AND WELCOME TO WEAPONS AND WARFARE FOR STRAIGHT ARROW NEWS; I’M YOUR HOST RYAN ROBERTSON. JUST AHEAD ON THIS WEEK’S EPISODE.

THEY ARE ONE OF THE LARGEST DEFENSE CONTRACTORS IN THE WORLD, ISRAEL AEROSPACE INDUSTRIES, AND THEY’RE PUTTING SOME OF THEIR INNOVATIONS IN AUTONOMOUS CAPABILITIES PAIRED WITH MANNED COMBAT SYSTEMS TO THE TEST IN REAL TIME. WHAT COULD THEIR DISCOVERIES MEAN FOR U.S. COMBAT TROOPS.

AND OSHKOSH DEFENSE LANDS AN EIGHT-FIGURE CONTRACT FOR THE ROGUE FIRES, AN AUTONOMOUS PLATFORM WITH A DIVERSE RANGE OF CAPABILITIES. WE TAKE A CLOSE-UP LOOK.

BUT FIRST, SOME HEADLINES YOU MAY HAVE MISSED.

IN HIS FIRST TRIP OVERSEAS SINCE HE WAS CONFIRMED, U.S. DEFENSE SECRETARY PETE HEGSETH SAID NATO COUNTRIES NEED TO SPEND MORE ON DEFENSE TO ENSURE PEACE AND U.S. SUPPORT AGAINST ANY AGGRESSION AHEAD OF HIS FIRST NATO MEETING THIS WEEK.

[PETE HEGSETH, U.S. SEC. OF DEFENSE]

“This kind of urgency of this moment requires friends talking to friends about capabilities, about leadership, about stepping up, about burden sharing and the incentives to say, the European continent deserves to be free from any aggression, but it ought be those in the neighborhood investing the most in that collective, individual and collective defense.”

[RYAN ROBERTSON]

HE NOTED THAT MOST NATO COUNTRIES SPEND CLOSE TO 2% OF THEIR GDP ON DEFENSE, BUT THE NEW TRUMP ADMINISTRATION SAYS THAT NEEDS TO BE 5%.

THE U.S. AND SOUTH KOREAN MILITARIES RECENTLY CAME TOGETHER FOR A JOINT LIVE-FIRE EXERCISE IN POCHEON, SOUTH KOREA. THEY ROLLED OUT SOME IMPRESSIVE GEAR, INCLUDING K-1-A2 TANKS, INFANTRY FIGHTING VEHICLES, U.S. STRIKER ARMORED VEHICLES, AND APACHE HELICOPTERS.

MORE THAN 150 UNITS AND OVER 2,000 TROOPS PARTICIPATED IN THE ACTION.

[CPT ZACH DOUGLAS, TRAINING OFFICER, STRIKER BRIGADE COMBAT TEAM]

“The value of training for this is, a great impact, it’s building those relationships with our counterparts, establishing the ability to both simultaneously strike contact on different objectives, simultaneously building communication lines with each other. Which, as everyone knows, communication lines are very important on the battlefield.”

[RYAN ROBERTSON]

THE EXERCISE TOOK PLACE OVER THREE WEEKS AND FOLLOWED A NORTH KOREAN STATE MEDIA REPORT WHERE KIM JONG UN PLEDGED TO BOOST THE COUNTRY’S NUCLEAR PROGRAM, CITING CONCERNS OVER WHAT HE SEES AS A SERIOUS THREAT FROM THE GROWING SECURITY PARTNERSHIP BETWEEN SOUTH KOREA, THE U.S., AND JAPAN. WHILE KIM HAS MADE SIMILAR COMMENTS BEFORE, HIS RECENT REMARKS SUGGEST THAT HE’S NOT LIKELY TO ACCEPT PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP’S OFFER FOR A MEETING TO REVIVE DIPLOMACY ANYTIME SOON.

AND IN AN UNEXPECTED TWIST, THE WORLD’S MOST ADVANCED WARPLANES FROM THE U.S. AND RUSSIA HAVE BEEN SPOTTED TOGETHER FOR THE FIRST TIME.

THE $80 MILLION F-35 LIGHTNING II FROM THE U.S. AND THE RUSSIAN SU-57E FELON BOTH MADE AN APPEARANCE AT AERO INDIA 2025 IN BENGALURU, THE CAPITAL CITY OF INDIA’S MOST SOUTHERN STATE.

THE F-35 IS, OF COURSE, THE PREMIER FIGHTER JET OF THE U.S. MILITARY, WHILE THE SU-57E IS KNOWN AS A FIFTH-GENERATION STEALTH MULTIROLE FIGHTER.

THE FIVE-DAY EVENT FEATURED MORE THAN 900 EXHIBITORS AND AN EXCESS OF 150 FOREIGN COMPANIES.

Here’s the updated transcript with new paragraphs after each speaker name:

[RYAN ROBERTSON]

BACK IN DECEMBER WE REPORTED ON UKRAINE’S USE OF AN ALL-DRONE GROUND ATTACK FORCE IN AN HISTORIC OPERATION THAT TOOK PLACE NEAR THE VILLAGE OF LYPTSI IN UKRAINE’S KHARKIV REGION. IT MARKED A FIRST IN THE HISTORY OF WARFARE. AN ALL-UNMANNED GROUND ATTACK TEAM TOOK ON AND COMPLETED A MISSION AGAINST RUSSIAN FORCES.

WHILE MUCH OF THE WORLD IS WATCHING AND LEARNING FROM UKRAINE’S EFFORTS IN EXPELLING RUSSIA FROM INSIDE THEIR BORDERS, THEY AREN’T THE ONLY ONES MAKING HEADWAY IN THIS TYPE OF COMBAT.

ISRAEL AEROSPACE INDUSTRIES, ALSO KNOWN AS I-A-I, IS ALSO MAKING STRIDES IN THE AREA OF UNMANNED COMBAT. AND THAT’S THE SUBJECT OF THIS WEEK’S DEBRIEF.

OVER THE COURSE OF MORE THAN SEVEN DECADES, ISRAEL AEROSPACE INDUSTRIES HAS BECOME ONE OF THE LARGEST DEFENSE CONTRACTORS IN THE WORLD. RECOGNIZED FOR THEIR INNOVATIVE SOLUTIONS AND CUTTING-EDGE TECH, ESPECIALLY IN MISSILE DEFENSE, RADAR AND SENSOR SYSTEMS, AS WELL AS SATELLITE COMMUNICATIONS, THEY HAVE PLAYED A LARGE ROLE IN THE IDF’S EFFORTS TO PROTECT THE LIVES OF MORE THAN NINE MILLION ISRAELIS.

AND, MUCH LIKE UKRAINE, IAI IS DEVELOPING NEW AUTONOMOUS CAPABILITIES PAIRED WITH MANNED COMBAT SYSTEMS TO ALLOW SMALLER FORCES TO DO MORE WITH THE RESOURCES THEY HAVE.

[AMIR GEVA, EXEC. VP OF NORTH AMERICAN AFFAIRS, IAI]

“A few years ago, the IDF launched two programs. One is the Carmel. Carmel is equivalent to the next generation Combat Vehicle program that runs here in the United States. And I is leading this program for the IDF for the Israeli Defense Forces. In parallel. Two years ago, the IDF, the idea of also launched a program called soy, which is stand off in allow the fight the troops to fight with from a standoff like they are standing in in those two programs, and the technologies that involved are robotics, technologies, AI And machine learning.

[RYAN ROBERTSON]

UNDER THE CARMEL PROGRAM, IAI PURSUED FIVE KEY CAPABILITIES: Autonomous Mission Planning, Management, and Decision support Advanced, Hemispheric Situational Awareness, and Targeting Autonomous Lethality with Organic Effectors Autonomous Mobility Autonomous Control of Aerial and Ground Robotic Vehicles (Agents)

IN 2019, THE ISRAEL MINISTRY OF DEFENSE’S R&D DIRECTORATE LOOKED INTO HOW AUTOMATION AND MISSION AUTONOMY COULD BOOST THE EFFECTIVENESS OF MANNED CREWS. THAT LED TO IAI’S ELTA SYSTEMS GROUP INTRODUCING THE CARMEL DEMONSTRATOR, WHICH ALLOWED JUST TWO CREW MEMBERS TO TACKLE COMPLEX COMBAT MISSIONS THAT USUALLY WOULD NEED MULTIPLE VEHICLES AND THREE OR FOUR CREW MEMBERS.

AMIR GEVA IS THE EXECUTIVE VICE PRESIDENT OF NORTH AMERICAN AFFAIRS FOR IAI. HE TELLS US THEIR EFFORTS HAVE BEEN DEVELOPED TO THE POINT WHERE THE IDF HAS BEEN ABLE TO CARRY OUT SOME MISSIONS IN THEIR WAR WITH HAMAS WITH SOME ROBOTIC ASSISTANCE.

[AMIR GEVA, EXEC. VP OF NORTH AMERICAN AFFAIRS, IAI]

“And in the current conflict, this is what they do. They carry out robotic combat mission, mainly concentrating on life saving missions such as bridging, opening path, mine, clearing, countering IED, I need to emphasize always operator men in the loop, involved.”

[RYAN ROBERTSON]

AT LAST YEAR’S AUSA GATHERING IN WASHINGTON D.C., IAI UNVEILED THIS “ROBOTIC WINGMAN” ON AN EIGHT-WHEELED VEHICLE THAT DEMONSTRATED THE STANDOFF CAPABILITIES OF THE CONCEPT. ALLOWING OPERATORS TO WORK AT A SAFER DISTANCE FROM THE ACTION THAN THEY MIGHT HAVE PREVIOUSLY. GEVA SAYS THE SYSTEM ITSELF WILL WORK WITH WHATEVER PLATFORM U.S FORCES CHOOSE TO INSTALL IT ON.

[AMIR GEVA, EXEC. VP OF NORTH AMERICAN AFFAIRS, IAI]

“We are agnostic to the vehicle, as you saw, okay, we in previous we took this kind of a vehicle, but we are agnostic to the vehicle. We are providing the technology that might be on any any given technology depends on the customer, depends on the on the on the each one of the services is one of the army, which vehicle they will they will prefer. So this is the reason we choose this one. We are not providing the platform. We are providing the technology that will provide those robotics and tools that will allow to implement this kind of autonomous capability.”

[RYAN ROBERTSON]

WHILE GEVA ADMITS THE SYSTEM IS NOT YET WHERE IAI ENVISIONS IT EVENTUALLY GOING, IT HAS PROVEN ITS WORTH IN ISRAEL’S WAR AGAINST HAMAS.

[AMIR GEVA, EXEC. VP OF NORTH AMERICAN AFFAIRS, IAI]

“Right now, we’re concentrating on life saving missions. As I mentioned, are many. There are open paths, breaching, countering ideas, advanced guard missions. The future might be others not. It’s not our way to decide. Eventually, technology provide all what I mentioned, the operator might do that, and there are several people operating that, because eventually in the battlefield, there are more than one or one path to open. So this is the reason there are more than one operator.”

[RYAN ROBERTSON]

THERE’S NO WORD FROM IAI ON ANY PENDING DEALS WITH THE DOD AS OF YET. IF AND WHEN THAT CHANGES, WE’LL LET YOU KNOW.

Here’s the updated transcript with new paragraphs after each speaker name:

[RYAN ROBERTSON]

WE’VE TALKED A LOT ABOUT THE EXPLOSIVE GROWTH OF AUTONOMOUS VEHICLES IN THE MILITARY, IT’S A TREND THAT SHOWS NO SIGN OF SLOWING. ONE OF THE LATEST EXAMPLES COMES FROM THE MARINES CORPS SYSTEMS COMMAND AND THEIR RECENT AWARDING OF A NEARLY $30 MILLION CONTRACT TO OSHKOSH DEFENSE FOR THE ROGUE-FIRES, THAT’S WHY IT’S OUR WEAPON OF THE WEEK.

MEET THE REMOTELY OPERATED GROUND UNIT FOR EXPEDITIONARY FIRES, AKA THE ROGUE-FIRES. BUILT BY OSHKOSH DEFENSE, IT’S NEXT-GEN AUTONOMOUS TECHNOLOGY THE MARINES ARE INVESTING IN TO SEIZE AND DEFEND KEY MARITIME TERRAIN IN POTENTIAL FUTURE CONFLICTS.

BASED ON OSHKOSH’S JOINT LIGHT TACTICAL VEHICLE, THEY SAY IT’S EXTREMELY RUGGED AND MOBILE, WITH THE ABILITY TO CARRY UP TO A 6,000 POUND PAYLOAD AUTONOMOUSLY.

[JANET KEECH, SENIOR DIR. OF PROG. MANAGEMENT, OSHKOSH DEFENSE]

“You can see, looking at the vehicle, that there’s no cab, there’s no place for a driver to sit. So this vehicle is controlled in a variety of ways that take the marine or the soldier out of the picture, so that they’re protected. There’s less there’s less need for a lot of manpower. Manpower is a critical resource these days, so it gives a lot of flexibility to the services and how they use it.”

[RYAN ROBERTSON]

JANE KEETCH, A SENIOR DIRECTOR OF PROGRAM MANAGEMENT FOR OSHKOSH, TELLS US THERE ARE MULTIPLE WAYS FOR TROOPS IN THE FIELD TO PUT THE ROGUE-FIRES TO WORK.

[JANET KEECH, SENIOR DIR. OF PROG. MANAGEMENT, OSHKOSH DEFENSE]

“The first one is a leader follower method, where you have one leader vehicle and you can have multiple follower vehicles behind it, following along in a convoy type of situation, or you can do it using like a video handheld controller that you can do from about a kilometer away, depending on line of sight and the terrain. And honestly, it’s a much easier way for our young Marines and soldiers, most of them are used to playing video games, and our customers even told us that in some cases, it’s easier to teach them to use a video controller than it is to teach them to drive a truck. So it’s definitely technology that they’re very familiar with,

[RYAN ROBERTSON]

ITS TECHNOLOGY BUILT TO LESSEN THE RELIANCE ON HUMAN DRIVERS IN HIGH-RISK SITUATIONS, MAKING IT EASIER FOR MARINES TO ACHIEVE BATTLEFIELD EFFECTIVENESS, SPECIFICALLY IN THE U.S. INDO-PACIFIC COMMAND.

DESIGNED WITH FUNCTIONALITY IN MIND, KEECH SAYS IT CAN BE USED AS A WEAPONS PLATFORM AS WELL AS PLAY A ROLE IN ANY UNIT’S LOGISTICS PLANS.

[JANET KEECH, SENIOR DIR. OF PROG. MANAGEMENT, OSHKOSH DEFENSE]

“It’s very versatile to be used for multiple different types of weapons platforms as well as you can take the weapons platform off and use it as a logistics resupply, autonomous resupply vehicle. So the Marine Corps has intentions of using it for both short-range all the way to long range fire weapons platforms. And this is the Naval Strike missile that’s on it now. So it’s it’s the first one out of the gate for the Marine Corps. In terms of safety, if you’re firing a weapon system off a vehicle, you don’t want your people right there with it when that signature is there. So it keeps them away from the platform while it’s being fired, and then it lets them rapidly redeploy it back to safety.”

[RYAN ROBERTSON]

OF COURSE, THIS WEAPONS OF THE WEEK, AND THE ROUGE FIRES, DELIVERS ON THAT FRONT IN A BIG WAY.

[JANET KEECH, SENIOR DIR. OF PROG. MANAGEMENT, OSHKOSH DEFENSE]

“The Marine Corps is also planning on using it for long range fires, that includes the Tomahawk missile, and then there’s shorter range HIMARS, types of applications for that as well. But then you can take this across to the army and use it for really the rogue platform itself. You can integrate it with anything that’s capable the payload is capable of holding, carrying.”

[RYAN ROBERTSON]

WHILE IT DEFINITELY HAS LOTS OF BRAWN, IT BRINGS THE BRAINS AS WELL. OSHKOSH HAS PARTNERED WITH FORTERRA TO PUT THEIR AUTODRIVE SYSTEM BEHIND THE WHEEL.

A RELEASE FROM OSHKOSH TOUTING THE DEAL SAYS DELIVERIES WILL START SOMETIME THIS YEAR.

Here’s the updated transcript with new paragraphs after each speaker name:

[RYAN ROBERTSON]

IN THIS WEEK’S COMMS CHECK, MORE HISTORY BEING MADE BY AMERICAN FORCES IN THE RED SEA.

A U.S. MILITARY OFFICIAL FAMILIAR WITH OPERATIONS IN THE REGION CONFIRMED TO WEAPONS AND WARFARE U.S. AIR FORCE AND NAVY COMBAT AIRCRAFT USED A WIDE VARIETY OF AIR-TO-AIR MUNITIONS TO ENGAGE ONE-WAY ATTACK DRONES, INCLUDING THE USE OF ADVANCED PRECISION KILL WEAPON SYSTEM ROCKETS AND AIM-9X SIDEWINDER MISSILES BY U.S. AIR FORCE AIRCRAFT.

THE OFFICIAL ADDED THE APKWS PROVIDES A LOWER COST AIR-TO-AIR MUNITION COMPARED TO TRADITIONAL AIM-9X MISSILES, OFFERING A MORE FINANCIALLY SUSTAINABLE SOLUTION TO DEFENSIVE U.S. AND COALITION OPERATIONS IN THE RED SEA AND ACROSS THE U.S. CENTRAL COMMAND AREA OF RESPONSIBILITY.

WE’VE REPORTED ON THE ADVANCED PRECISION KILL WEAPON SYSTEM TWO ROCKETS BEFORE AS THEY WERE INITIALLY DESIGNED FOR GROUND TARGETS BUT ALSO TURNED OUT TO BE A MORE AFFORDABLE AIR-TO-AIR WEAPON. AFTER YEARS OF TESTING, IT SEEMS THEY’RE NOW BEING USED IN ACTUAL OPERATIONAL MISSIONS.

WHILE SPECIFICS ABOUT EXACTLY WHEN, HOW MANY, AND SUCCESS RATES ARE STILL LARGELY UNKNOWN, WE DO KNOW THE AIR-TO-AIR CAPABILITY WAS FIRST USED LAST YEAR AS U.S. FORCES WORKED TO TAKE DOWN HOUTHI DRONE THREATS.

THE MAIN DIFFERENCE BETWEEN THE APKWS TWOS AND REGULAR UNGUIDED 70MM ROCKETS IS BAE SYSTEMS ADDED A GUIDANCE AND CONTROL SECTION RIGHT BETWEEN THE WARHEAD AND THE MOTOR AT THE BACK. THIS TWEAK MAKES THEM A MORE AFFORDABLE OPTION FOR PRECISION-GUIDED MUNITIONS. PLUS, OPERATORS CAN USE EXISTING PARTS TO MAKE THEM.

Here’s the updated transcript with new paragraphs after each speaker name:

[RYAN ROBERTSON]

ALRIGHT FOLKS THAT’S GOING TO DO IT FOR US THIS WEEK ON WEAPONS AND WARFARE. IF YOU LIKE WHAT YOU SAW, AND WE HOPE YOU DID, PLEASE GIVE US A LIKE OR FOLLOW ON OUR SOCIAL MEDIA PLATFORMS AND SHARE OUR STORIES WITH YOUR FRIENDS. WE’RE TRYING TO GROW OUR AUDIENCE–AND WE NEED YOUR HELP DOING THAT…SO THANKS IN ADVANCE.

FOR MY WRAP THIS WEEK–I WANTED TO SPEND A LITTLE TIME TALKING ABOUT DECENCY.

IT SEEMS TO BE LACKING OF LATE.

DECENCY IS DEFINED AS BEHAVIOR THAT CONFORMS TO ACCEPTED STANDARDS OF MORALITY OR RESPECTABILITY. TO BE A DECENT PERSON IS TO BE KIND, IT MEANS YOU SHOW RESPECT TO OTHERS. TO BE DECENT DOES NOT MEAN YOU ARE WEAK, OR UNINTELLIGENT….I WOULD ARGUE IN TODAY’S WORLD, BEING DECENT IS ONE OF THE GREATEST DISPLAYS OF STRENGTH THERE IS OUT THERE.

BECAUSE DECENCY DURING DISSENT–IS WHEN IT’S MOST IMPORTANT.

IT DOESN’T MATTER IF THE TOPIC IS POLITICS, MUSIC, SPORTS, LITERATURE…WHATEVER…WHEN YOU HAVE A DISAGREEMENT WITH SOMEONE–BEING DECENT IN THE MIDST OF THE DEBATE DOESN’T JUST KEEP THINGS CIVIL–IT MIGHT BE THE BEST WAY TO WIN SOMEONE OVER TO YOUR LINE OF THINKING.

FOR INSTANCE–IF MY WIFE AND I ARE TRYING TO DECIDE WHERE TO GO TO DINNER–AND I SAY HER SUGGESTION IS STUPID AND ONLY AN IDIOT WOULD WANT TO EAT THERE–ODDS ARE SHE’S GOING TO VETO MY SUGGESTION STRAIGHT OUT OF THE GATE.

WHILE I WOULD LOVE FOR OUR POLITICIANS AND CULTURAL LEADERS TO LEAD WITH A LITTLE MORE DECENCY–THIS MESSAGE ISN’T NECESSARILY FOR THEM. IT’S FOR YOU ON THE OTHER SIDE OF THIS SCREEN….PLEASE PRACTICE DECENCY IN YOUR LIVES.

WE HEAR EVERY DAY HOW DIVIDED WE ARE–WE SEE EXAMPLES EVERY DAY OF PEOPLE NOT CONFORMING TO ACCEPTED STANDARDS OF MORALITY OR RESPECTABILITY; PEOPLE NOT BEING DECENT TO ONE ANOTHER. INDIVIDUALITY IS GREAT–BUT IN MY MINDBOOK TRULY GREAT INDIVIDUALS–ARE ALSO DECENT HUMAN BEINGS.

FOR SENIOR PRODUCER BRETT BAKER, VIDEO EDITOR BRIAN SPENCER, AND GRAPHICS ARTIST DAKOTA PITEO–I’M RYAN ROBERTSON WITH STRAIGHT ARROW NEWS, SIGNING OFF.

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