A US robotics company in which Eric Trump, the son of the US president, holds shares says it is in talks with the IDF to supply up to 1,000 humanoid robots capable of operating in Hamas tunnels in the Gaza Strip, the British newspaper Financial Times reported.
According to the report, the robots are intended, among other tasks, to detect booby traps and carry out dangerous missions in place of soldiers. However, Israel has not confirmed the talks, and no signed contract has been reported.
The company behind the initiative is San Francisco-based Foundation Future Industries, which develops the Phantom robot series. The company's president and co-founder, Mike LeBlanc, a former US Marine, told the Financial Times that he met with senior IDF officers in September for preliminary talks. He said he also toured tunnels in the Gaza Strip accompanied by a Phantom MK1 robot.
LeBlanc claimed that the company is holding direct talks with the IDF chief of staff and that the supply of up to 1,000 robots is under consideration. He said the robots are designed to scan tunnels, identify tripwires and neutralize booby traps to reduce the risk to soldiers entering the area. The company is also exploring the possibility of using robots for combat missions in the future.
The vision outlined by LeBlanc includes sending a robot to open a door in a dangerous building instead of a soldier who does not know whether a gunman is waiting on the other side. At this stage, however, these are capabilities the company seeks to develop and deploy, rather than operational capabilities independently verified under combat conditions in Gaza's tunnels.
The IDF referred the Financial Times' questions to the Defense Ministry, which declined to comment. British media reports also differ: while the Financial Times described preliminary talks, The Telegraph reported that Israel is expected to purchase up to 1,000 robots.
According to The Telegraph, each robot costs about $150,000, but no agreed price for a deal with Israel has been published. A separate Reuters report said the company sells robots to the US military for about $300,000 each.
The White House connection adds interest to the report. Eric Trump is among Foundation's investors, holds shares in the company and was appointed its chief strategic adviser in March. According to LeBlanc, the company and another firm it acquired have received more than $70 million in contracts and funding from the US military; that figure is based on his statements and does not constitute independent confirmation of the value of the contracts.
The business ties have drawn political criticism in the United States. Democratic Senator Elizabeth Warren raised concerns about a conflict of interest following the Pentagon's engagement with the company. A spokesperson for Eric Trump, however, said he is not involved in Foundation's day-to-day management or in negotiations over government contracts, while LeBlanc also denied that Trump's involvement had helped the company win contracts.
Alongside the reports of talks with Israel, significant questions remain about the robots' technological readiness. A BBC investigation published in June this year, following a visit to the company's facilities, described the Phantom MK1 as a system still under development. According to the report, the robot shown to the reporter operated without an internal battery, was not sealed against water or dust, and could not get up on its own after falling; its hands also had limited gripping and movement capabilities.
The company is developing a more advanced model, the Phantom MK2, intended to include a battery allowing about six hours of operation, improved resistance to environmental conditions and the ability to get up after a fall. These are targets presented by the company, rather than performance verified as part of the report.
Foundation sent two MK1 robots to Ukraine for trials in February. According to the BBC, the company tested various military applications there, including trials involving the use of weapons, but the fact that trials took place does not establish that the robots are ready for operational deployment in tunnels. To date, there has been no official Israeli confirmation of the talks, no purchase order has been made public, and no date has been set for delivery of the robots to the IDF.