Technological advances like unmanned aerial vehicles and artificial intelligence have changed modern combat, but ground troops are still crucial in warfare, according to the top executive from a key Israeli defense company.
Tomer Malchi, the founder and CEO of Asio Technologies, emphasized in the latest episode of the Threat Status podcast the importance of keeping soldiers equipped with next-generation tools. He added there’s no substitute for sending in ground troops to secure territory.
“No airplane in the world, and no F-35, no F-16, with any massive campaign could generate … ‘this is mine.’ You have to go in and plant the flag like you had to do 100 years ago,” Mr. Malchi said. “I think that the massive interest in the troops today is very correct. That’s the vector that we’re seeing.”
Asio develops self-positioning systems for aerial platforms, providing soldiers with location services even in environments where traditional tracking would be impossible. The company assists forces working in areas without access to Global Navigation Satellite Systems. This technology provides further autonomy for ground forces to maneuver effectively, which Mr. Malchi said is essential to victory.
“At the end of the day, you have to go in. I think Ukraine showed that as well,” Mr. Malchi said. “The only thing that was very effective, other than drones taking down artillery or infrastructure, is maneuvering forces. The troops that are going village to village, area to area, clearing up that area, you know, putting up the flag.”
Russia and Ukraine over the past year have lobbed record numbers of drones and long-range missiles at each other, targeting critical infrastructure and troop locations. Ground troops have also relied on small, first-person drones as an essential reconnaissance tool in the fast-moving, deadly environment.
Additionally, ground troops have proved to be an essential part of both military efforts to control land in Ukraine. In August, thousands of Ukrainian soldiers surged into Russia’s Kursk region, controlling the territory for several weeks before being pushed back by Russian and North Korean ground troops.
Mr. Malchi said the success of ground troops is reliant on providing them with adequate technology to defend against next-generation threats. However, in certain instances, soldiers can be weighed down by a web of complex tools.
“Everything you don’t need or you don’t want, if your life depends on it and it’s a weight, you just leave it in the tent,” Mr. Malchi said. “If you try to push technology and the soldiers just don’t use it, they leave it in the tent. That’s your biggest indication that that’s too complicated, too massive, the soldier won’t take stuff that would hold them back.”
Other Israeli defense companies have worked to cut down on this issue, providing troops with consistent and simple-to-use technology that can assist in tackling advanced threats. Israel Weapons Industries’ Arbel smart rifle system attaches to the standard AR-15 platform and provides soldiers with improved targeting capabilities.
Mr. Malchi told Threat Status that further integrating technology with ground forces and balancing which tools are needed by soldiers will prove decisive in future conflicts.
“Whoever blinks first loses,” he said. “And I think if you have the capability to see the enemy faster, to have its coordinates detected faster or more accurately, and you can respond faster, you in the end of the day have the upper hand. And I think that technology can bring that capability and help the field operators to have this upper hand.”
• Vaughn Cockayne can be reached at vcockayne@washingtontimes.com.