WASHINGTON — The Army has selected four vendors to participate in its Engineer Autonomous Breaching Capability (EABC) program aimed at finding unmanned systems that can “rapidly” breach obstacles and minefields on future battlefields.
The Army revealed Wednesday that the four companies are: Caterpillar, Forterra, IDV USA and Overland AI. The awards from the service of an undisclosed amount are expected to be finalized in the “coming weeks,” the Wednesday release from Capability Program Executive (CPE) Mission Autonomy read.
Systems developed from the program will be responsible for “minimizing personnel exposure and ensuring the safe passage of follow-on forces,” according to the service. “The selected contractors will provide advanced robotic systems designed for beyond-line-of-sight autonomous control, directly enhancing the Army’s ability to conduct multi-domain operations.”
Once the contracts are officially awarded, vendors selected for the EABC program will participate in a string of demos and tests that will conclude in a Transformation in Contact unit assessment early next year, according to the service.
“This rotation will allow the Army to collect direct, unit-level feedback to inform the production decision for the next generation of autonomous engineer systems,” the announcement read.
The Army did not respond to a request for comment asking if the service plans to eventually further down select for the program.
Related: How one US Army brigade is learning to sacrifice robots in lieu of humans
Scaling AI for Defense Teams Without Increasing Data Risk
AI is expanding the mission data footprint across defense environments, increasing the need for scalable, layered data-at-rest (DAR) protection.
Wednesday’s announcement comes after CPE Mission Autonomy selected five companies to participate in its Project Sustainment initiative earlier this week, which aims to find vendors who can develop medium-sized ground robots for logistics operations, effectively “remov[ing] [s]oldiers from high-risk delivery routes while delivering essential supplies directly to the tactical edge,” a post from the service read.
EABC and Project Sustainment both derive from National Advanced Mobility Consortium proposals this spring. After various shakeups, including the alteration of the UxS program, the reboot of the Robotic Combat Vehicle program, the relocation of CPE Mission Autonomy and more, Army senior leaders have said they are prioritizing their autonomy efforts to focus on three areas: engineering (breaching), sustainment and fires.
The Army has also put out solicitations under Commercial Solution Openings for other autonomous efforts, such as casualty evacuation and autonomous bridge-building boats.
Orijinal Haberi Görüntüle
