The United States Army has recently fired Javelin anti-tank missiles from seven-ton robots that can detect and track enemies, take out targets with human guidance, and patrol high-risk regions.
Soldiers fired Javelins and .50-caliber machine guns from robotic vehicle prototypes at a recent Army exhibition at Fort Hood, Texas, where a series of weapons development drills also took place.
FORT CARSON, CO - APRIL 28: A Javelin missile fired by soldiers with the 2nd Stryker Brigade Combat Team heads toward a target during a live-fire training exercise on April 28, 2022 in Fort Carson, Colorado. The Javelin anti-tank missile system uses automatic infrared guidance to track targets and has the ability to use top attack to hit targets from above where armor is thinnest. The U.S. military has sent almost a third of its javelin missile supply to Ukraine which plays a vital role in it's fight against Russia.
"Huge Learning Opportunity"
Kevin Mills, the deputy executive director of ground vehicle intelligent systems at the Army Ground Vehicle Systems Center, said in an interview with The National Interest that they just finished the second large-scale operational soldier evaluation conducted at Fort Hood, Texas.
He added that they had twelve robotic platforms alongside six control vehicles, and it serves as a culmination of about four years of activity. At the same time, Mills noted that it's a "huge learning opportunity" for the Army to understand how combat robotics can help them in the future.
Army weapon developers put armed robots in soldiers' hands as part of the evaluation to examine weapons, improve tactics, and hasten the development of a new class of robotic combat vehicles, or RCVs.
The RCV-Light, RCV-Medium, and RCV-Heavy are the three robotic vehicle versions that the service is pushing forward with. Each robotic vehicle variation is being built for a complex, interconnected set of unmanned operations.
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Robotic Vehicles
The vehicles include manned-unmanned teaming operations where ground drones or robotic vehicles carry out scouting and reconnaissance missions, distribute supplies, and destroy targets autonomously when given instructions by a human.
The RCV-Light, a seven-ton vehicle, has a.50-cal machine gun, a Javelin, and several armament systems. It is also made to accommodate modular payloads.
A 30mm gun is fired by the RCV-Medium from a turret. For the army operational experiment, the lights and mediums were constructed as prototypes, according to Mills.
The RCV-Heavy, still in the development phase, served as a stand-in for a future heavy robot outfitted with a 120mm gun in the experiment involving an M113 personnel carrier.
Mills noted that robotic vehicles outfitted with weapons of greater caliber would become more prevalent in the upcoming years.
"One of the unique features of robotic platforms is that, once you take the human out, they're purposely built to be robotic platforms, so they can be much smaller and still carry significant payloads and have significant middle mobility characteristics," Mills said in a statement with The National Interest.
Hence, the RCV-Lights, for instance, are difficult to detect, which provides the operational benefit of moving them forward, according to Mills.
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Written by Joaquin Victor Tacla
