Page 51 - Australian Defence Magazine September 2019

Army Robotic and Autonomous Systems Strategy highlights the goals that Army is seeking from this disruptive technology.
“Through this demonstration and the CRC program, we will help the Army achieve that.”
The autonomous technologies used on this project have been developed by BAE Systems Australia in partnership with the Common- wealth Government for more than two de- cades on such programs as Nulka, Evolved Sea Sparrow Missile, Taranis and Mantis.
further develop an autonomy strat- egy and we hope to continue work- ing with them to mature that.”
Perfect candidate
Army’s M113s are a perfect candi-
date for such a program. Because
it’s basically a big empty box on
tracks, the M113 also has plenty
of room to add new gear. There’s
already a host of variants for almost every
mission. Despite their age, the existing AS4
M113 fleet has gone through significant
wire kits installed before undergoing inter-
nal TARDEC testing before being handed
over to the independent Army Test & Evalu-
“Working on a project like this provides an incredible opportunity to do something
upgrades in recent times and is an order to
ation Command (ARTEC) for safety certi-
nce Journal
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that hasn’t been done before,” BAE Systems Australia Project Manager on the program, Isaiah Borgas said to ADM. “Success could be a game changer for the Army.
“It’s the sort of work that creates huge ex- citement in the team and working so closely with the Army provides the best under- standing what we need to do to overcome the challenges along the way and provides Army with the best outcome. Projects such as this create enormous interest right across the company.
“Army will get a great foundation product to
magnitude lighter than the next genera-
fication.
The four initial vehicles will make up a
tion of vehicles under the Land 400 phases.
Product manager:
platoon, allowing the Army to try out group tactics with the robots working alongside two manned Next Generation Combat Ve- hicle prototypes delivered at the same time in 2019-2020.
The US Army’s Next Generation com- bat Vehicle (NGCV) modernization team oversees both projects as a single combined human-machine force. In the longer term, however, TARDEC plans to build at least 12, enough for a company demonstration.
As a tracked vehicle, it is also better placed to keep up with other elements of a Com-
Date
bined Armed Fighting team than perhaps a wheeled vehicle.
General manager:
The US are also going down the roboti- Dcaisted M113 path with the Tank-Automo- tive Research, Development and Engi- neering Center (TARDEC) under their
Robotic Combat Vehicle program.
As reported in Breaking Defense, the plat- forms were being refurbished and drive-by-
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www.australiandefence.com.au | September 2019 | 51
“Because the M113 is basically a big empty box on tracks, it has plenty of room to add new gear.”
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