U.S. Army robotic armored combat vehicle prototypes move forward to anticipated demonstrations next year
WASHINGTON – The U.S. Army has taken receipt of its light and medium Robotic Combat Vehicle (RCV) prototypes from industry teams and is putting them through the paces this year ahead of a major company-level soldier assessment in 2022. Defense News reports. Defense News reports. Continue reading original article
The Military & Aerospace Electronics take:
30 March 2021 -- The Army took delivery of the first of four RCV-Light vehicles from a QinetiQ North America and Pratt Miller team — which won the contract to produce the robotic prototypes a year ago — in November 2020 with the other three arriving before the Christmas holiday, Alfred Grein, acting director and deputy executive director of Ground Combat Systems at the Army Combat Capabilities Development Command, said at the Association of the U.S. Army’s Global Force Next virtual symposium on March 16.
The RCV-L is a diesel-electric hybrid with a gross vehicle weight of no more than 8,500 pounds and a maximum payload of no more than 7,000 pounds, boasting a top speed of about 40 miles per hour, according to Grein.
The four unmanned prototypes were delivered to the Army’s Ground Vehicle Systems Center where a team began integrating the government-developed Robotic Technology Kernel (RTK) autonomy software onto those platforms, Grein said.
John Keller, chief editor
Military & Aerospace Electronics
