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Foundation Future Robotics, a robotics company backed by Eric Trump, became the first company to deploy humanoid robots in a combat zone when it sent its Phantom MK 1 robots to Ukraine in February.
Currently in talks to ship more MK 1 units to Israel, expanding its presence in the war theater, Foundation co-founder Mike LeBlanc sees a near future in which the majority of combat will be done by robots.
“In the next five to 10 years, I would expect humanoids, ground vehicles and drones to be involved in most of the major combat, with humans really only doing special forces, special operations and small side surgeries,” LeBlanc, a former Marine Corps officer with three tours of duty in the Middle East, told Fox News Digital in an exclusive interview.
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LeBlanc pointed out that while robotics companies have created both war drones and domestic humanoid robots, Foundation is the first company to create humanoid robots specifically for warfare.
The Foundation says its Phantom humanoid robot can autonomously navigate rugged terrain, detect people and map its surroundings. (Foundation)
MK 1 units deployed to Ukraine have a carrying capacity of approximately 88 pounds, making them their best role in combat situations: They serve a supplemental role, assisting human soldiers with ammunition, loading ammunition, manual labor, and other ancillary tasks.
However, LeBlanc explained that the units were simply a “proof of concept” for broader application of humanoid robots in warfare, saying the Foundation was already close to shipping the MK 2.
“He’s 6 feet tall and 185 pounds, like I said, made in my image,” LeBlanc joked.
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“But this thing is ready to engage, making small and medium machine guns, engaging against enemies.
“The Mark II will be the largest, fastest, most powerful humanoid on the market. This robot is already capable of picking me up. So it’s a much larger payload than anyone else. It allows us to do heavy industrial work, but it also allows us to install heavy machine guns, bullfrogs, etc.,” LeBlanc told Fox News Digital.
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Product specifications of the Phantom MK I humanoid robot, which serves as a precursor to the Foundation’s MK II units (Future Robotics Foundation)
LeBlanc said Ukraine would likely be the first place the MK 2 would be deployed, a suitable testing ground, he explained, because the war between Ukraine and Russia is already largely fought by machines.
“In Ukraine, robots are a hot issue and today’s battlefield,” LeBlanc explained.
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He then marveled at how quickly the combat environment has changed, contrasting today’s battlefield with those he engaged in during his tours of duty.
“It’s amazing how quickly things are changing. I was in Afghanistan in 2012, and then again in 2013. And, at that time, they had really small drones, it was almost like you were looking through a roll of toilet paper,” LeBlanc told Fox News Digital.
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“It was a very small additional tool. Today, when you go to Ukraine, it’s actually the drones that are doing the fighting first and the humans that are the little extra,” he said.
Russia launched its largest air attack on Ukraine since the start of the war as fires burned in kyiv on May 25, 2025. (Reuters/Gleb Garanich)
Yet LeBlanc did not see a future in which humans became obsolete in warfare.
“I don’t think you’ll ever see a battlefield without humans,” he said.
“I was just in New York at a fancy restaurant, and, you know, even there the waiter had to walk by because our table was unbalanced, and he put napkins at the bottom to make sure it didn’t move,” he said.
“We’re a workaround species, and that’s what’s made humans so amazing, is that we can adapt to almost any situation. And so, I think it’s unlikely that we’ll see a battlefield without humans, but we should see that number go down significantly.”
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The Foundation’s founder raised concerns that his robots could spark public fears about a “Terminator” situation.
“I think anyone who has been away from the battlefield might rightly be very concerned about the Terminator going out and deciding who to kill and who not to kill,” he said.
A Foundation humanoid robot charges a mortar in the desert. (Future Robotics Foundation)
But, ultimately, he argued that anyone who has served on the front lines will be in favor of keeping human beings out of harm’s way.
“We had a saying in the Marine Corps: Never send a Marine where you can send a bullet first. And at the Foundation, we always say, ‘Don’t send a Marine where you can send a humanoid first,'” LeBlanc joked.
Another fear he has faced is growing public concern over artificial intelligence, a technology that has served as a catalyst for his company’s breakthrough.
“AI is what actually brings humanoids to life,” he told Fox News Digital.
“I think there’s rightly a lot of concern about AI and what AI companies are doing. Because, in a way, it’s sort of a digital nuclear program. So you see all these companies that are sort of capable of engaging in their own atomic bomb, in a way,” LeBlanc said.
“And so, especially companies like ours that are deliberately putting them into combat and pushing to put them into combat, certainly should be questioned. But we’ve been under a lot of scrutiny.”
LeBlanc anticipates even greater scrutiny when Democrats take control of Congress in January after a prominent Democrat already highlighted the Foundation’s relationship with investor and chief strategy officer Eric Trump.
President Donald Trump and his son, Executive Vice President of the Trump Organization Eric Trump, attend day three of the 2026 Amgen Irish Open at Trump International Golf Links in Doonbeg, County Clare, Ireland. (Brendan Moran/Sportsfile via Getty Images)
“Sen. (Elizabeth) Warren nominated our company because we have Eric Trump as a strategic advisor. He was an investor first, and now he mostly helps us plan our real estate, build our manufacturing facilities, and he loves talking about mechanical things,” LeBlanc said.
After the Foundation was awarded a $24 million contract with the Pentagon for research into humanoid robots, Warren criticized the deal in an article on X.
“Eric Trump bragged on FOX about winning ANOTHER multi-million dollar contract from the Trump administration. I sounded the alarm and pressed for answers. Is the Pentagon just an ATM for Trump’s kids now? This looks like corruption for all to see,” she wrote.
LeBlanc pushed back against the criticism.
“She asked us, you know, ‘Do the Trumps think the Pentagon is their own ATM?’ To me, that goes against all the facts and my experience with it,” LeBlanc said.
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Senator Warren did not immediately respond to Fox News Digital’s request for comment.
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