By leveraging a commercial truck platform for the Army’s Infantry Squad Vehicle, GM Defense hasn’t developed just one tactical vehicle, but a family of vehicles to meet multiple, tactical mission needs.
Without a soldier in the driver's seat, the Army wants high-tech sensors to sound the alarm when something is wrong, or even predict when it will be.
The jet-powered transport’s speed, survivability and multi-mission agility position it as a viable option to the C-130 for the US and NATO allies.
“If this works, we would use this kind of technology and apply it as we look at our requirements for other vehicles in the future,” said Stan Darbro, deputy director of the Army RCCTO.
“It's this idea of collaborative sensing,” said Col. Andre’ Abadie, referring to one autonomous system talking to another to, say, confirm enemy positions or equipment.
Two robot vehicles provided route reconnaissance, blocked an intersection and denied a helicopter landing zone during the JRTC rotation — all critical but potentially deadly tasks for soldiers.