Ashley Roque
SMD 2025 — With the US Army pulling back from its own, internally developed ground autonomy software, it is currently negotiating a deal with a company to integrate commercial solutions into two platoons of ground robots, according to Lt. Gen. Robert Rasch.
“This was a decision to move away from just a government solution for autonomy, and bring in the best of industry to help, because we’re going to need them in the long run,” the three-star general in charge of the service’s Rapid Capabilities and Critical Technologies Office (RCCTO) told Breaking Defence today. “We’re in negotiations right now to award a contract, to bring in some industry partners to help us in the areas of autonomy,” he later added.
The Army has spent years internally developing an autonomy package called the Robotic Technology Kernel (RTK), later rebranded as the Army Robotic Common Software, meant to be the software backbone of an envisioned ground robotic fleet. However, delays and questions mounted regarding its viability for use with programs like the Robotic Combat Vehicle (RCV).
So for another initiative, dubbed the Human Machine Integrated Formation (HMIF), Rasch said the Army is looking elsewhere to solve that particularly tricky technical problem. HMIF is a concept designed to explore integrating robots and autonomous systems into Army formations.
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