Two companies will make autonomous martial arts prototypes this year • At the same time, there will be a huge exercise in which robots will perform assault missions
Illustrative image // Photo: Army Sgt. Henry Villarama, US Army
The United States Army is approaching huge strides in the era of autonomous combat vehicles. According to state reports, the Army Combat Capability Command plans to issue two tenders for light and medium armored vehicles in the near future, under which two companies - "QinetiQ" and "Textron" - will build the initial prototypes of the independent warfare vehicles in 2020 - 2021 Significant massive production down the road. At the same time, the US military is planning to tender for a heavyweight armored prototype, but the deal with this tool has been rejected by the US military for 2023.
"We are ahead of our planned schedules and we are increasing our expectations in light of developments and developments in the field," Brigadier General Richard Ross Coffman said. The general, who has already tested autonomous weapons, said of his satisfaction, saying that "the products we tested are much better than we expected and have better capabilities than we imagined for the first step. So we advanced their exams into prototype service from 2023 to 2021."
According to US military plans, the vehicle inspection course will take place over the past three years, including a ten-ton lightweight rifle armed with anti-tank machine guns, a 12-ton lightweight 30mm cannon, and a 20-ton lightweight rifle , Which would essentially be a lightweight robotic tank, with a 120mm cannon (as it is today in modern tanks worldwide).
The decision to make rapid progress in the field came after a display of various companies for the U.S. Army in October 2019. The display featured several companies that significantly impressed military and engineer officers, including a lightweight Textron combat tank capable of, among other things, launching anti-armor missiles and equal in strength to assault tanks. Such as the Abrahams tank, and QinetiQ armored vehicles.
As early as 2017, U.S. Army personnel examined non-combatant vehicles that defended a human-fighting class. It was then an M-113 armored vehicle with a heavy machine gun operated remotely and received information by a skimmer operated by another command vehicle.
This year, a huge exercise is expected in Colorado, during which human warriors will fight alongside robots. This is an exercise that will be different from any other exercise, since the robotic tools will not only help the fighters but take a massive part in the fighting. They will move in the assault department on wheels, soften targets and carry out real offensive activity alongside human forces.