WASHINGTON — The U.S. Army and the Defense Innovation Unit have selected three companies to collaborate on developing heavy-duty vehicles that can navigate rough terrain under their own power and resupply soldiers on the battlefield.
Three companies, Neya Systems, Robotic Research Autonomous Industries and Carnegie Robotics, beat out dozens of other competitors in the autonomous prototyping for the Ground Expeditionary Autonomous Retrofit Systems project (GEARS).
The initial deal, announced earlier this month, is worth millions of dollars, with further work and payments to come in future phases.
“The goal of this program is not to develop something new or novel,” Naeya’s Kurt Bruck said in an interview. “The goal of this program is to achieve autonomy.”
The Pentagon is pouring money into artificial intelligence, autonomy, computer vision and other capabilities to enhance future warfare. Robots and other advanced machines could bring more firepower to the battlefield or explore areas deemed too dangerous for human travel.
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In this case, the Army and DIU are looking to turn to existing civilian expertise to build autonomous capabilities into Oshkosh’s palletized systems, a popular logistics and cargo truck, which will help keep soldiers safe while also streamlining the flow of supplies, company representatives said.
“Convoys are one of the most sought-after targets for an enemy, and if you can destroy a convoy, you can wreak havoc on a supply mission,” Brook said. “Driving these vehicles is one of the most dangerous jobs in the Department of Defense today. If we can make them autonomous, not only do we get soldiers out of harm’s way, but we also get more uptime because soldiers need to sleep.”
The Russia-Ukraine war illustrates this: Clogged convoys and sluggish logistics lines took their toll in the early days of a conflict now in its third year. They continue to be targeted today.
The Army’s thinking on the problem is centered around a controversial logistics concept that recognizes that adversaries such as Russia and China will try to disrupt production and supplies in order to starve U.S. soldiers. The Army established a cross-functional team earlier this year to address the issue.
“In the global war on terrorism over the past 20 years, combat logistics patrols have consisted of convoys of 15 or 20 vehicles carrying security personnel — large, slow, sluggish targets that are vulnerable to attack,” Phil Cotter of Robotics Research told Defense News.
“In the next battle, we will have to fight in a more dispersed and decentralized manner to combat an enemy with long-range precision fires and advanced target identification and recognition capabilities,” he added.
The contract, awarded this month to Robotic Research, Nayar and Carnegie, calls for the delivery of four autonomous prototypes, which will be evaluated throughout fiscal year 2024.
Ultimately, one contractor will be selected to deliver a total of 41 prototypes, according to the Army, and as with any technology development effort, soldier feedback will be factored into the process.
“We’re ready to go. They’ve given us a pretty tight schedule,” Carnegie’s Eric Soderberg said. “Obviously, we’re familiar with all the sensors, and we’ve done similar automation projects. It’s really just a matter of bringing this all together and making this particular project work the way the Army wants it to.”
Vehicles other than palletized systems are also being considered for conversion, although the announcement did not disclose makes or models.
“If we can successfully solve this problem on the PLS truck, we can achieve a 95 percent solution rate on just about any vehicle you can think of,” Soderberg said.
Collin Demarest is a reporter for C4ISRNET covering military networks, cyber, and IT. Collin previously covered the Department of Energy and the National Nuclear Security Administration (particularly Cold War cleanup and nuclear weapons development) for a daily newspaper in South Carolina. Collin is also an award-winning photographer.
Noah Robertson is a Pentagon reporter for Defense News. He previously covered national security for The Christian Science Monitor. He earned a bachelor’s degree in English and political science from the College of William and Mary in his hometown of Williamsburg, Virginia.
