Israel Defense Forces to Develop Drone Submarines

The department within Israel’s Ministry of Defense, tasked with developing next generation weaponry, MAFAT, is working on developing unmanned underwater vehicles, the market for which could exceed $2 billion by 2020, Israel’s Globes business daily reported, citing MAFAT aeronautics director Dr. Yuval Cohen.

UUVs include ROVs - remotely operated underwater vehicles that are operated by remote control – and AUVs - autonomous underwater vehicles which are  fully robotic, submarine drones, where Israel’s ingenuity could add the most value. The biggest market would be in mine-sweeping, Dr. Cohen told Globes. “The current response to this threat is slow and very expensive sweeps. Development of an automated unmanned submarine for efficient mine-sweeping, without risking human lives, should be very worthwhile and there is a good global market,” he said.

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