The U.S. Army will start testing robotic combat vehicles next year.
Beginning in March 2020, soldiers in modified Bradley Fighting Vehicles will fire at targets using a platoon of remote-controlled androids.
The month-long operational test at Fort Carson, Colo., aims to collect input on where to go next with autonomous vehicles.
The upgraded Bradleys—called Mission Enabler Technologies-Demonstrators, or MET-Ds—boast a remote turret for the 25mm main gun, 360-degree situational awareness cameras, and enhanced crew stations with touchscreens.
Initial testing will include two MET-Ds and four robotic combat vehicles (RCVs) on M113 surrogate platforms. Each vehicle will have a driver and gunner, as well as four soldiers in its rear to conduct platoon-level maneuvers.
“We’ve never had soldiers operate MET-Ds before,” according to David Centeno Jr., chief of the Combat Capabilities Development Command’s Ground Vehicle Systems Center’s Emerging Capabilities Office. “We’re asking them to utilize the vehicles in a way that’s never been done before.”
Commando feedback will be used to improve the vehicles for future test phases.
“You learn a lot” from their assessments, Centeno said at last month’s International Armored Vehicles USA conference. “You learn how they use it. They may end up using it in ways we never even thought of.
‘This is not how we’re used to fighting,” he continued. “We’re asking a lot. We’re putting a lot of sensors, putting a lot of data in the hands of soldiers. We want to see how that impacts them. We want to see how it degrades or increases their performance.”
One particular goal of this program is to discover how to penetrate an adversary’s anti-access/area denial (A2/AD) weapon system—a device or strategy used to prevent enemies from entering an area of land, sea, or air. Specifically: How to do it without putting soldiers in danger.
“You’re exposing forces to enemy fire,” Centeno said. “So, we have to find ways to penetrate that bubble … and allow for freedom of air and ground maneuver. These platforms buy us some of that, by giving us standoff.”
The vehicles are experimental prototypes and are not meant to be fielded, but could influence other programs.
“This technology is not only to remain in the RCV portfolio, but also legacy efforts as well,” Maj. Cory Wallace, a robotic combat vehicle lead for the Next-Generation Combat Vehicle Cross-Functional Team, said in a statement.
Phase II of testing will occur in 2021, with six MET-Ds and the same four M113 surrogates—plus four light and four medium surrogate robotic combat vehicles. The third and final phase is slated for 2023, with a slightly different lineup.
Additional testing will occur in 2021, with six MET-Ds and the same four M113 surrogates, plus four light and four medium surrogate robotic combat vehicles. Phase III is slated for 2023, with the a slight change in the vehicle lineup.
The autonomous vehicles will eventually have third-generation forward-looking infrared kits with a target range of at least 14 kilometers (more than eight miles).
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