Robots Under Control

In the heart of a densely populated urban battlefield, an enemy target hides within a house. Nearby, a tactical unit gears up, poised to breach in just minutes. As the command to breach awaits execution, a swarm of drones and autonomous vehicles surrounds the building, collecting vital intelligence for the assault team. This coordinated effort paves the way for a series of well-executed actions, ensuring a swift and precise strike without compromising the safety of personnel.

While this scene might sound like something out of a futuristic thriller, it’s become reality thanks to Legion-X, a leading solution from Elbit Systems’ C4I & Cyber Division. Legion-X is a comprehensive command and control system that seamlessly integrates with a variety of autonomous tools, supporting tasks ranging from reconnaissance and surveillance to intelligence gathering and offensive operations.

“Today, we recognize that future battlefields will be filled with robots,” shares Nir, the Vice President of Autonomous Systems at Elbit Systems’ C4I & Cyber Division. “Acknowledging the growing demand for a dependable system that can handle a wide range of tasks with various robotic assistants supporting combat forces, we developed Legion-X.”

The Future is Autonomous

Nir points out that almost every security organization and military around the globe is crafting strategic plans for incorporating comprehensive autonomous and robotic capabilities for various operations, including combat against hostile forces, border control and security, and the protection of strategic sites.

“The focus isn’t solely on offensive missions,” he elaborates. “This is evident in global conflicts, such as the ongoing war in Ukraine. Without effective management of drone capabilities or robotic vehicles, chaos ensues.”

In modern battlefields, the ability to organically expose maneuvering forces to vertical threats has become critical to the effectiveness of ground maneuver in the form of “seek and strike” and achieving required operational objectives with it.

“The vertical exposure dimension introduces an unexpected element for the enemy,” Nir adds. “They must not only anticipate threats from forward-facing positions, where tanks or forces might be concealed, but also look upwards to detect lurking drones.”

Also, in the low-altitude arena of these battlefields, conventional systems such as planes, helicopters, and UAVs operate alongside drone-based systems. The integration of drones with autonomous and AI capabilities has dramatically enhanced mission availability and continuity for maneuvering forces. This synergy with tactical missions, coupled with short activation times and the ability to operate organically within terrain constraints, underscores the key advantage of innovative drone systems over conventional ones.

Autonomous systems equipped with multiple tools offer two key advantages in border protection, he explains.

“Firstly, they help mitigate risks to soldiers positioned near the border who are highly vulnerable to enemy threats. Secondly, these systems can potentially reduce the manpower required for border protection duties, allowing personnel to be reallocated to other missions. A significant portion of border security tasks can be carried out autonomously using drones or unmanned ground vehicles (UGVs).”

The Legion-X centralizes the tasks of autonomous platforms, ensuring they operate in perfect harmony with human soldiers’ commands. This innovation stemmed from the need to streamline communication between field soldiers and the tools they operate, minimizing unnecessary cognitive burden and forging ultimate offensive units that fully tap into the potential of robotic tools.

Maximum Flexibility

Control, autonomy, and integration experts at Elbit Systems’ C4I & Cyber Division have drawn on their vast experience in these fields to elevate Legion-X to a universal status, making it agnostic to the specific platform being controlled. This approach guarantees maximum flexibility in integration.

“We comply with international standards for autonomous tools, enabling our system to interact with virtually any robotic platform available,” Nir says, adding that “this approach saves our clients considerable resources and time by negating the need for bespoke integrations across different systems, which would otherwise demand extensive learning and expertise in numerous autonomous tools.”

Robust and Safe Data Transmission

A standout feature of the Legion-X system is its near-total resistance to external disruptions, ranging from GPS jamming and electromagnetic interference to cyber intrusions. “We built the entire system on the premise that these tools would operate in an environment full of disruptions, with ongoing efforts to interfere at the electromagnetic frequency level and attempts to take control via sophisticated cyber-attacks,” Nir adds.

“The ingenuity of the system’s design rests on integrating the intelligent components, those that employ artificial intelligence and other cutting-edge computing tools, directly onto the platform. This avoids traversing the electromagnetic spectrum between the control system and the field equipment,” he details further. “Such an approach grants autonomy and independence, markedly boosting the system’s security level.”

“Until now, there’s been a widespread assumption that military and security forces around the globe were quickly adopting autonomous and robotic platforms, including the strategic use of swarms. Yet, Elbit Systems offers a fresh take, suggesting a more deliberate pace.

“Indeed, robots are becoming a staple on the battlefield, but deploying drone swarms and similar technologies is not yet on the immediate horizon,” Nir points out. “The key is to advance with care, step by step. At present, our solution stands out as the sole market option adept at orchestrating a broad array of missions with various tools simultaneously, doing so with unmatched efficiency.”

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