Mission 2020: US Armed Forces to Test Robotic Combat Vehicles

The United States Armed Forces plans to carry a pilot test on robotic combat vehicles next year. As per the plan, two modified Bradley Fighting Vehicleswill be used by the soldiers to remotely control four unmanned M113-derived prototypes. The testing will decidehow soldiers could operate robots in a fight in real-life.

The back-controlling unmanned vehicles will carry four soldiers inside each fighting vehicles. Machine guns of 7.62mm will power the vehicles

The test will be carried out at full pace for the next few years. Coming to the second stage of the test in the late FY-2021 for the armed forces, the robotic vehicles will be deployed in company-scale manoeuvres. All total, six MET-Ds and eight light and medium industry supplied robot vehicles will be used for the development.

In the third part of the test, during the mid-FY-2023, the vehicle count would be maintained; and the focus will be towards medium and heavy robotics.

This kind of robotic system could prove to be very effective for the army especially in situations such as the soldiers don’t want to hide against an enemy force. The unmanned machines could carry special payloads or vehicle upgrades. The systems will not take the place of humans when they are not autonomous. However, they can keep people out of risk unless they’re critically needed.

The new move by the US army will bolster its future operations and missions. In light of the robotic development, soldiers are likely to save energy and time on a few workloads.