Raytheon's ‘DeepStrike' autonomous launcher shines at US Army's PC-C5 initiative
Paired with its bid for a new training missile, 'DeepStrike' was successfully fired three times with different objectives during the event, a company official said.
At this year's event, officials are testing several autonomous weapons, including the Army's AML system, an uncrewed version of the M142 rocket launcher, and a rival design from Raytheon.
The arms manufacturing company is building its mobile launcher on Oshkosh Defense's FMTV A2 truck, using autonomy technology from Forterra.
According to Brian Burton, vice president of Precision Fires and Maneuver at Raytheon, the industry team is using a leader-follower set up, where a manned vehicle takes the lead while an autonomous launcher follows.
The trio tested the model earlier this month at Project Convergence in California's Fort Irwin. They used the defense giant's bid for the Army's Joint Reduced Range Rocket (JT3) program, designed for either the M270 Multiple Launch Rocket System (MLRS) or M142 High Mobility Artillery Rocket System (HIMARS).
The company submitted its proposal in May 2024, with Ursa Major supplying the rocket motor. However, a winner has yet to be selected. The aerospace leader now plans to take feedback from the PC-C5 event and continue launcher development and testing accordingly.
'We're gonna do more testing … more autonomous vehicle demonstrations to where we're proving out how it operates in a complex battlefield,' Burton said in a press release.
'As you can imagine, with autonomy, you're going to run into fog and rain. You're going to run into vehicles, enemy vehicles that have been destroyed and are on fire, and so those things need to be accounted for.'
As companies develop new autonomous ground weapons, Army officials are identifying limitations, assessing their role in formations, and acquiring ground robots through various initiatives.
However, the service has yet to announce a concrete plan for acquiring an autonomous launcher. If it moves forward, it cannot rely on DEVCOM for mass production, Long-Range Precision Fires Cross Functional Team leader Brig. Gen. Rory Crooks said in January.
'I don't see DEVCOM as being the way to introduce larger numbers into formations in the near future. That will be how we leverage industry,' Crooks said. 'But it starts with refining that requirement, which we're in the process of [doing].'
PC-C5 is the U.S. Army's premier modernization experiment, which brings together joint and multinational partners to test and integrate advanced technologies aimed at enhancing battlefield capabilities and interoperability.
Now in its fifth iteration, PC-C5 is being held at both the National Training Center at Fort Irwin, California, and across the Indo-Pacific, with key locations including Hawaii, Guam, Japan, the Philippines, Australia, and French Tahiti.
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