(Washington, D.C.) Combat Commanders in Europe and the Pacific want ground robots to support their training, force deployments, war preparations and deterrence operations in response to increasing Russian and Chinese threats.
The reasons are likely multi-faceted to include the pursuit of dispersed, multi-domain networking operations, manned-unmanned teaming and forward offensive attack operations.
Robots in Eastern Europe could, for example, test Russian defenses along border regions, network with aerial drones to pass along key details of force maneuvers to command and control, due to the combat performance promise and tactical advantages associated with manned-unmanned teaming.
“We got a demand signal from other theaters, to have robots come and deploy to both the Pacific and into Europe for operations, exercises,” Maj. Gen. Ross Coffman, Director, Next Generation Combat Vehicle Cross Functional Team, Army Futures Command, told The National Interest in an interview.
The process is both ongoing and multi-faceted, as the Army plans to test, assess and refine requirements for its emerging force of Light, Medium and Heavy Robotic Combat Vehicles to include operational evaluations, live fire exercises, and various payload integrations.
Army Light and Medium-Sized RCVs
A big emphasis with the ongoing development, Coffman explained, is to combine new Light and Medium RCVs into a company-size force to perform integrated operations able to draw upon the various attributes unique to each.