‘Don’t Call Them Robots’ – Lockheed Preps Autonomous Vehicles
By BRADLEY PENISTON – A robot, as Morri Leland sees it, is more or less a remote-controlled vehicle with some ability to, say, avoid obstacles or even follow waypoints. But Lockheed Martin’s unmanned Squad Mission Support System (SMSS) cargo vehicle is far smarter than that, says Leland, an international business development director for the company.’
This half-scale prototype of the SMSS unmanned cargo vehicle has apparently not received the "not a robot" memo. / Defense News photo by Bradley Peniston
“You can tell it to go back to base, pick up its load, and come back out here when you’re ready,” Leland said after a June 14 land vehicles briefing at Eurosatory.”You can tell it to follow a route, a man, or execute an entire mission autonomously.”
An SMSS ordered to”return to base” will use its GPS and sensors to try following waypoints and known routes, and if neither of those are working out, will navigate its own path home, he said.
The six-wheeled, roughly 2.5-ton vehicle is designed to carry 1,200 pounds farther than 200 miles, a Lockheed fact sheet said.
Lockheed has been showing prototypes of the SMSS since at least 2006, but it’s now apparently ready for prime time. Leland said the SMSS has been put through its paces for both the U.S. Army and Marine Corps at a Georgia testing facility, and has been certified to operate within 10 feet of troops.
There is no government contract yet — Lockheed developed the SMSS on its own dime — but Leland is expecting one soon enough to deploy four of the unmanned cargo carriers with U.S. troops this year. He declined to specify which of the U.S. services was expected to buy the vehicles.
June 15th, 2010 at 8:38 pm
Looks like a really useful peace of equipement but it wouldnt be much good outside of a base. It doesnt appear to have and up armorred in any way and doesnt look to be vary fast either.
June 16th, 2010 at 6:12 am
I think it would be good in flatland regions but where I am at in the mountains, worthless.
June 16th, 2010 at 1:25 pm
I’ve seen this in some video games and the concept is good. The down side is, it will only work so long as it remains unseen, such as a situation like a squad not behind enemy lines in a virtually uninhabited area but still in need of provisions or distribution there of in a sector. Another use may be in humanitarian efforts when a gopher is needed to keeps the necessary supplies coming within the “secured” area. A machine such as this is still a robot when compared to the mental and physical abilities of a human, i.e., a soldier with the ability to stay hidden or at least inconspicuous. So once the enemy knows we are running these and I’m sure they’ll know we will be before we do run them in the field, (because OPSEC doesn’t mean anything in this country) they will recognize them and if unescorted, it will be disrupted, destroyed or stolen. An option worse still, would be if this robot was simply monitored as it led the enemy back to a friendly POS where they could be ambushed. As I said it’s a good concept and I’m sure will have it’s uses but with the type of unconventional warfare we are engaged in where the enemy is all around and often unidentifiable, I think this little guy won’t be participating much in the tactical arena but will end up for the most part a humanitarian gopher or another POG Fobet.
June 17th, 2010 at 5:26 am
This is a great idea for the engineers to come up with, but just like all of the great idea’s during VietNam, it just isn’t practical. Kinda like the C.R.O.W. mounted on our uparmored vehicles. Great for static defenses and unmanned posts that don’t move, but horrible on patrols and on convoys.
June 17th, 2010 at 2:49 pm
What happens when the enemy starts attaching IEDs to these things when they are on their way home?
June 17th, 2010 at 3:12 pm
This could be useful for autonomous details such as moving equipment from helicopters and planes but outside the wire on foot patrol just another sensitive item to worry about.
June 17th, 2010 at 8:30 pm
This looks like it would have better applications as an RCP robot if sensor suites could be attached and integrated, but I’d have to agree, it’d be a liability in most tactical situations.
June 18th, 2010 at 12:57 pm
All of the aforementioned points are valid, humanitarian missions, fighting forrest fires, or on the FOB, but not with infantry squads and platoons. During early deployments to Afghanistan, “Gators” (skid steers) were used for much the same purpose, even inserted with Air Assault operations. This resulted in several being left behind when extraction capabilities were limited due to changes in A/C availability(UH60 pick up after Chinook drop-off). As an Infantry Commander, I would be more than hesitant to utilize this vehicle even if the terrain supported it.
I would especially like to highlight the statement above reference “IED’s being placed on it and the vehicle carrying them back into a FOB or Patrol Base. We saw enemy hang IEDs on the backs of our “manned” vehicles by getting in a vehicle’s blind spot. In atleast one instance, the vehicle made it back inside the FOB motorpool before the IED was found.
This vehicle is money better spent elsewhere.
June 18th, 2010 at 9:55 pm
Civilian Steve has a point.
June 19th, 2010 at 1:53 pm
We had flir on my vehicle while in Iraq and it saved my platoon a bunch of times. Thanks
June 19th, 2010 at 2:09 pm
I think it is probably a good asset to keep at say the BDE or BN level and parcelled out as needed.
For Airborne and AASLT troops on their initial insertion it would be great. The troops are initially foot marching to their objectives, this would be a Godsend for the mortarmen. Good for light infantry during admin movement, low threat tactical movement in terrain that allows it. They are a mechanical donkey train.
Benning was testing another version that walks rather than rolls but it seems to have a bit further to go. Just because it might not be perfect for all situations in our current operational environment doesnt mean it wont have some utility their or utility further down the road.
June 20th, 2010 at 9:31 am
During the Korean War, the Marines had a horse named Sergeant Reckless. Old Reckless could carry artillery shells from the ammo supply point to the firing line without a handler. The job would have taken three Marines to do the same thing by hand. Fast-forward to the war in Iraq. For the first time in US history, more than 50 percent of the personnel performing military duties are contract civilians. While the men and women on the front lines are making a pittance placing their lives on the line, the contractors are earning six-figures providing relatively risk-free services. If it were possible to replace every contractor in Iraq and Afghanistan with a robot, I’d be the first advocate.
June 20th, 2010 at 7:07 pm
Usefull as a FEDEX/UPS delivery dollie.
June 21st, 2010 at 6:16 am
GAY. Just the goverments way of making more money for themselves and more work for us. seems like more of a hassle instead of a way to help us.
June 21st, 2010 at 11:34 am
I’d be pissed if we had this thing everyday when we go out have to do crappy maintance checks before we go always taking care of another piece of equipment. then being shoved in the conex b/c there’s no sense in using it. And if it ends up like the C.R.O.W. system it’ll most likely end up shitting the bed in the heat. so no thanks
June 22nd, 2010 at 12:06 am
Looks great to me. As it sits now I have to waste 2-4 men to sit on gear at a rally point. That and it’s a mortarman’s dream. Hard to pack a lot of 81s. Looks like you could send stuff back to the CP pretty easily.
June 23rd, 2010 at 3:41 am
Put a gun on it.
June 24th, 2010 at 5:10 pm
This could be more effectively used for IED/mine scouting.
i.e. when in a convoy (of however many vehicles), when such a device (IED/mine) is suspected to be found, these ‘robots’ could then be sent out to scour an area for explosive devices, therein not having to risk the EOD personnel..
Just a thought.
June 24th, 2010 at 5:47 pm
See any military guys in uniform in the picture? Nope!! All these comments from military guys are pretty much negative, the ones that would have to use this system.