
Screen-grab of an image depicting the logo of Israel's AI and Autonomy Administration operating under the DDR&D (MAFAT). (Israeli Ministry of Defense)
The Israeli Ministry of Defense (MoD) has created an Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Autonomy Administration.
The new administration, under the Directorate of Defense Research & Development (DDR&D), will aim to “advance AI and autonomous capabilities within Israel's defence establishment”, the MoD said on 2 January.
This comes as Israel continues its drive in autonomous weapons development.
In December 2024 the DDR&D completed several contracts with Israeli company Elbit Systems totalling around USD40 million to supply the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) with “advanced drones and autonomous systems”. The contract likely includes small unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) that use Elbit's Legion-X autonomous mission system, which underpins its HuntAir-X system for co-ordinating swarms of surveillance UAVs.
Elbit Systems unveiled what it called a “tactical airdrop munition” called TerminaThor in early December 2024 that can carry up to six M66 bomblets, 1.2 kg munitions developed by Elbit, which have been modified for use by UAVs. A human operator has to be in the loop before engaging with the target, Janes understands.
“Our future battlefield will see integrated teams of soldiers and autonomous systems working in concert,” said MoD Director General Major General Eyal Zamir (retd), adding that this new initiative is intended to reduce casualties and will cover all branches of the IDF including air, naval, ground, intelligence, and space.
 The administration will bring together academia, defence companies, and experts from the IDF.
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