Oct 26, 20202 min read

The New Israeli "Tank" has an Xbox Controller, AI & Fighter-Jet Tech

The next generation of armored fighting vehicles is upon us and it looks insane: 2-person crews, fighter-jet type cockpits and helmets based off those for F-35 pilots, artificial intelligence honed playing StarCraft II and Doom, autonomous, semi-autonomous and manual driving modes plus screens, layouts and controllers that would be familiar to anyone playing Fortnite or Call of Duty. It's not a tank. It's something new. It's called the Carmel and it is going to revolutionize the Armored Corps.

Add to that all the amazing tech already on the Israeli Merkava 4 tank, such as the Trophy system which is akin to an Iron Dome but for tanks (it locates and shoots down anti-tank rockets), and an IED (improvised explosive device) detection and neutralization system (both systems were sold to the US army), and you are looking at what just might be the best fighting vehicle the world has ever seen. It is smaller and slimmer than a tank and will be especially useful in urban warfare; a lesson from the 2014 war in Gaza. It is a collaborative project of Israel's various weapons designers and manufacturers.

As an Israel tour guide, one of the highlights many of my clients have is meeting Israeli Defense Force soldiers out in the field, who if we are lucky, sometimes even let us into their tanks. I would love to take a peek at this one. If not, we will have to wait until it is added to the Latrun Tank Museum, which is known as one of the top tank museums in the world.

I also lead an Israel tech tour which has allowed us to see some of the incredible tech talked about here. On previous trips we have visited an Iron Dome battery as well as Elbit systems - one of Israel's major weapons developers and one of the partners on the Carmel project - and were able to check out their state of the art fighter-jet helmets, which are being adapted for the Carmel.

You can learn more about the Carmel here:

https://www.washingtonpost.com/video-games/2020/07/28/new-israeli-tank-features-xbox-controllers-ai-honed-by-starcraft-ii-doom/

https://nationalinterest.org/blog/buzz/carmel-israel-unveils-new-stealth-street-fighting-tank-72491

https://www.israelifirepower.com/2019/03/26/carmel-afv-armored-fighting-vehicle/

And you can watch a pretty cool video of the specs here (though it is from two years ago before the prototype was actually made and improved)...