We Are The Mighty: It’s December and many are doing their holiday shopping or making a wishlist of gifts they’d like to receive.
During the Future Ground Combat Vehicle Summit in Levonia, Michigan early in December, Army acquisition professionals and program managers had their own wishlists that included an assortment of robots and ground combat vehicles meant to protect Soldiers and give pause to potential adversaries.
Robots
Brian McVeigh, project manager for Force Protection, was big on robots.
Over 7,000 were fielded in just the last decade, he noted. The challenge now is to move the most effective ones into programs of record.
Among these, he said, is the M-160 Robotic Mine Flail, which efficiently clears land mines using rotating chains that flail the ground. It is also rugged enough to be protected against mine explosion fragments.
The M-160 made it into a program of record this year before the holidays, and a number are already involved in route-clearance missions in Afghanistan.
By 2025, dismounted Soldiers will conduct foot patrols alongside robots called Squad Multipurpose Equipment Transport, or SMET, vehicles that carry rucksacks and other equipment that will lighten the Soldier load, McVeigh said. read more here
Probably end up found on the battlefield knocked over and smeared with poo!
I wouldn’t be surprised in the least if those foot patrol soldiers would be happy to carry the same load as before if they could load SMET up with more ammo.
That mine field clearing robot sounds pretty good.
I hope it works as well as it sounds.
The new Zumwalt class naval ship were made for use with railgun. Ammo cast was so prohibitive they’re given up on it so now the ship is gunless, so when you hear railgun,take with a grain of salt.
Ammo cost. Auto correct makes me sound as dumb as I look.
They’ll run great for a half hour, shit a card, roll over and transmit an epirb as they fucking die with all the ammo locked up on them.
What could possibly go wrong?
Different Tim : No way, to smear it with Poo would be making it a Brother to the Mustards !
I can build you a one shot rail gun. Replica of one I instrumented at White Sands in the early ’80’s. Give me about $50 grand and you too can fire a 30 gram cube of doped ceramic at 40,000 fps.
I still hold the explosive license for the necessary to weld two copper rails together to squeeze that flux field that hard.
We made a rail gun for killing satellites in the outer atmosphere. A projectile the size of a bottle cap shot into a block of aluminum left an outrageous crater.
YouTube needs to have their own Robot there, to scare and chase Sheep with the Male Occupant still atatched by his Meager Member.
Trophy goes to longest ride !!!
The tankers in WWII made mine clearing tanks using a large roller with hunks of chain flailing. Worked like a charm. And cheap.
The flail was a field expedient add-on to Sherman tanks (at least) back in WWII. An autonomous one would probably be safer – tank crews cost a lot to train…..
yet we can’t have a knock-off AR-15 w/ a bayonet lug or over a 10-shot magazine because Anton Scalia has decided it’s too ‘military’
… you still think you can fight ‘Big Gubmint’?
Most of the deer hunters here in Michigan can outrange and pack more punch than a 5.56.
I bet these robots can’t defeat a snare.
Bet you didn’t think of that DARPA.
Just like these big armored vehicles that are bad and stuff. What happens when the windscreens get coated with paint or something that is so sticky it can’t be wiped with wipers? Now you have a BLIND armored vehicle.
There’s more than one way to skin a cat.
Different Tim
Just so you know a 556 or a 223 is just a really fast 22. I’m not so impressed. Just sayen that ain’t real shit.
“yet we can’t have a knock-off AR-15 w/ a bayonet lug or over a 10-shot magazine because Anton Scalia has decided it’s too ‘military’
… you still think you can fight ‘Big Gubmint’?”
Should have spotted this discussion sooner. 308 solution. Google it. I’ll behanging with Lapua Solution.
Brad,
I hear the military is considering going to the 6.5 Creedmoor.
Tsunami
You know me. A big fan of the Creedmoor. That 6.5 round just flies like no other. Well actually a 260 Remington is virtually identical. A 1200 maybe 1500 yard round. I need to go a mile. Not that I can shoot that ya understand. But I have the need, the need for speed. I’m thinking Lapua. Maybe Chitac.
Hey, maybe put the robot with the railgun and AI guarding the San Francisco SPCA. The one where the bums keep knocking over and beating up and crapping on his little brother. I’ll bet the railgun bigger brother of the little guy would clean up the street.
I’ve got a .45.70 that can put any beast on this continent in the prone position.
Ahem, the name of the city where TACOM’s Future Ground Combat Vehicle confab was held is called “Livonia” not Levonia.