Troopers from the third Infantry Division just lately ran the Robotic Fight Automobile via two weeks of live-fire testing because the Military develops robotic battle buddies to combat alongside its Subsequent Era Fight Automobile.
The troopers from Alpha Firm, 1st Battalion, twenty eighth Infantry Regiment, out of Fort Benning, Georgia did the dwell hearth at Camp Grayling, Michigan, in late April.
The platoon ran via a collection of dwell hearth occasions on the “Undertaking Origin” platform. The platform is a surrogate system that the Military is utilizing because it experiments whereas creating RCVs.
Troopers used a distant management from behind a berm and visible feeds from drones tethered to the platform to find targets. They then used M249 Squad Automated Weapons, M2 .50 caliber machine weapons and Mk19 grenade launchers mounted on the car to strike enemy autos with two or fewer corrections.
These weapons had been fired utilizing a wi-fi hearth management constructed by Kongsberg Protection & Aerospace, in response to an organization assertion. The corporate constructed the primary fielded remotely-operated turret.
“The system labored very properly. Proper now, at this time, even in its standing as take a look at platform, this might carry a big new degree of lethality to our infantry forces,” stated Sgt. 1st Class Richard Dyal, who was concerned within the latest train.
The identical troopers additionally labored with the system again in November, utilizing autonomous drive options, the drone system and the smoke module.
Knowledge gathered via soldier testing helps develop the platform to raised go well with what the Military needs from its creating robotic car portfolio.
“Having the identical troopers have interaction with the Origin over a number of iterations reduces the training curve, permitting us to spend extra time testing programs and it additionally offers a relentless degree of suggestions because the troopers grow to be aware of these programs and the way they work together,” stated Maj. Cory Wallace, RCV staff lead for the NGCV Cross-Practical Group.
Customers are additionally wanting to make use of the tethered drones as radio retransmission nodes.
“If I can put up the UAS to re-transmit whereas holding my troopers undercover and gaining 360-degree situational consciousness based mostly on what the UAS is ready to see, I’ve enormously decreased the danger to my troopers and elevated the flexibility of our items to speak with one another,” Dyal stated.
The Military plans to construct three variations of the RCV, a light-weight, medium and heavy variant.
The sunshine variant might work as each an armed escort and equipment mule for dismounted troops in each offensive and defensive eventualities. The medium might carry a heavier load and hold tempo with different crewed fight autos.
An organization-level evaluation is deliberate for 2022, Military Occasions’ sister publication, Protection Information, reported in March.
4 RCV-Mild autos from QinetiQ North America and Pratt Miller staff received the prototype contract final 12 months.
The RCV-Mild is a diesel-electric hybrid with a gross car weight of not more than 8,500 kilos and a most payload of not more than 7,000 kilos, boasting a high velocity of about 40 mpg, in response to Protection Information.
The Military was scheduled to obtain RCV-Medium prototypes in late April.
RCV-Medium can also be a diesel-electric hybrid with a gross car weight of 25,000 lbs. The car has a remotely operated 30 mm cannon and high velocity of greater than 25 mph.