Rapid strike: US military's light vehicles can now fire HIMARS rockets from anywhere
Oshkosh Defense is making a significant impression by showcasing its next-generation vehicle that can fire rockets at the Association of the United States Army's (AUSA) Global Force Symposium from March 25 to 27, 2025.
The defense contractor is presenting its Remotely Operated Ground Unit for Expeditionary Fires (ROGUE-Fires), an advanced platform designed to enhance military capabilities through advanced autonomous technology.
This year marks the first public demonstration of ROGUE-Fires, which can fire the Multiple Launch Rocket System (MLRS) Family of Munitions (MFOM) - the same munitions that the High Mobility Artillery Rocket System (HIMARS) can fire.
The hybrid platform is flexible enough to support a variety of mission-critical payloads, including long-range precision fires, autonomous resupply, and logistics functions, all aimed at boosting operational effectiveness in challenging environments.
Oshkosh's ROGUE-Fires is built on the proven Joint Light Tactical Vehicle (JLTV) chassis and features an adaptable powertrain that can be configured for hybrid-electric operation.
This capability allows for silent drive and silent watch modes, which enhance stealth and fuel efficiency while providing additional power to support various missions.
Pat Williams, chief programs officer at Oshkosh Defense, expressed enthusiasm about the platform's capabilities.
"At AUSA Global Force, we're emphasizing ROGUE-Fires with MFOM to demonstrate its potential to deliver operationally relevant surface-to-surface fire support," he said.
Williams also highlighted the company's commitment to contributing to the U.S. Army's evolution towards the Army of 2030, where effectively integrating human and machine capabilities will be essential.
Oshkosh Defense has been expanding its portfolio of autonomy-ready tactical vehicles, including the FMTV A2 launcher and Palletized Load System (PLS) A2.
These vehicles incorporate advanced drive-by-wire technology that supports modernization and enhances the safety of personnel in varied and dynamic battlefield conditions.
Oshkosh is leveraging its extensive experience to create versatile autonomous platforms as military operations evolve.
Williams noted that these innovations are crucial for meeting emerging threats and ensuring troops maintain operational superiority in diverse settings.
In a significant development earlier this year, Oshkosh Defense secured a $29.9 million contract modification to integrate next-generation technology into ROGUE-Fires further.
This initiative will see deliveries start in 2025, a move recognized by the Marine Corps Systems Command as pivotal for enhancing the Marine Corps' operational capabilities, particularly in seizing and defending strategic maritime territories.
The project will be executed in partnership with Forterra, a firm specializing in ground-based autonomy.
The ROGUE-Fires system aims to bolster the Marine Corps' sea denial strategies, enabling more effective multi-domain operations against potential adversaries.
Its autonomous technology is designed to provide flexibility and resilience in contested areas, reducing the reliance on human intervention in high-risk environments.
This capability is essential for improving battlefield effectiveness and lethality in regions such as the Indo-Pacific Command.
Oshkosh's collaboration with industry partners like Forterra is key to ensuring that U.S. forces are equipped with the tools to navigate modern combat landscapes.
"Through our enduring relationship with the Marine Corps and collaboration with leading tech partners, we strive to deliver solutions that enhance operational readiness," Williams stated.
"ROGUE-Fires is designed to support the Marine Corps' modernization agendas, including innovative formations and a responsive force structure that can counter evolving threats."
This latest initiative underscores Oshkosh Defense's dedication to advancing military technology while fostering partnerships that enhance the capabilities of U.S. armed forces in increasingly complex operational theaters.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Yahoo
5 hours ago
- Yahoo
WHSmith pricing 'should be illegal' after customer charged £4.19 for a Pepsi
WHSmith pricing "should be illegal", according to shocked customers. Welsh snooker legend Mark Williams recently posted a picture of a checkout screen in WHSmith, where it showed a 500ml bottle of Pepsi Max costing £4.19. Williams was at Heathrow Airport at the time. Airports across the country are slightly notorious for charging inflated prices. At the time of writing, a 500ml bottle of Pepsi Max from Tesco costs £1.59. Customers subsequently blasted the store. WHSmith pricing should be illegal in general, no clue how they get away with it — Sel (@SA1903_) June 4, 2025 One said: "WHSmith literally sold off their entire High Street business but kept travel hub shops for this very reason. It's like printing money and they don't care about the customers." Another commented: "Smiths are proper cosy cosy with all the airports, word is they mark up their prices by 50% and go halters with the airport the shops located in". Someone else replied: "I paid that in Liverpool airport a couple of weeks ago, couldn't believe my eyes". Another said: "WHSmith pricing should be illegal in general, no clue how they get away with it". Some, however, defended the pricing. Recommended reading: Jeremy Clarkson bans fan from The Farmer's Dog pub after heated argument UK government makes major driveway law change set to affect millions of homes Pest control expert issues 'incredibly sneaky' bed bug warning to all UK homes Replying to the previous post, a user commented: "It's in an airport mate". To which he responded: "Expensive in other WHSmith stores too hence why I said general". Airports tend to be expensive due to a combination of factors, including high operational costs, the captive audience they serve, and the unique challenges of operating within a confined space. These costs are then reflected in higher prices for food, beverages, retail goods, and services within the airport, as well as in airline ticket prices, which often include airport fees.
Yahoo
8 hours ago
- Yahoo
What to expect from Friday's jobs report
The government's May jobs report, slated for release at 8:30 a.m. ET Friday, could reveal the first signs of the impact on American workers of President Donald Trump's harsh on-again, off-again tariff policy. The consensus forecast is for the US economy to have added 130,000 jobs, slowing from a stronger-than-expected 177,000 gain in April, and for the unemployment rate to hold at 4.2% for the third consecutive month, according to FactSet estimates. 'The labor market is good, but it's not exceptional, and we're in the process of putting some real strain on the economy,' Claudia Sahm, New Century Advisors chief economist, told CNN in an interview. A case in point: Last June, after almost a full year on the job hunt, Jordan Williams landed a role at a high-growth, United Kingdom-based outdoor apparel brand that was looking to build out its US operations. Passenger Clothing was well positioned for expansion: The company landed orders with REI, Scheels and others; and Williams, a Portland, Oregon-based outdoor industry veteran, was excited for the ride. Until April. 'Upon 'Liberation Day,'' Williams said, nodding to the moniker Trump assigned to his blowout tariff announcement on April 2, 'I was liberated from employment.' Overnight, the US went from being Passenger's biggest potential growth driver to its biggest existential threat. For every $1 million of recycled fabrics, organic clothing and other products that landed in the US from countries such as India and China, Passenger was responsible for an additional $500,000 of duties, the company said in a mid-April statement announcing the pause of its US operations. Williams officially lost his job on April 11. Economists have warned that early layoffs like Williams' could be the first signs of labor market fallout from Trump's steep (and shifting) tariffs, which have ramped up uncertainty testing the nimbleness of businesses of all sizes. The Labor Department's weekly jobless claims report has shown higher numbers of first-time claims last month as well as people who have remained on unemployment for multiple weeks. Last week, first-time claims rose more than expected and totaled an estimated 247,000 filings, marking the highest weekly tally since October 2024, according to Department of Labor data released Thursday. Continuing claims, which are filed by people who have received unemployment insurance for at least a week or more, continue to bump up against a three-and-a-half-year high. 'This is a market where there are stops and starts, and there are pullbacks in hiring,' Nela Richardson, chief economist at payroll giant ADP, said Wednesday. 'With establishments, especially small establishments, when there's a lot of uncertainty — it doesn't mean that the demand isn't there but the timing may be off — firms would rather wait and see than hire aggressively.' The hiring rate, the number of hires as a percentage of total employment, ticked higher in April to 3.5%, but remains below pre-pandemic levels, according to Bureau of Labor Statistics data released earlier this week. And by ADP's count (which doesn't always correlate with the official jobs report) hiring dropped off precipitously in April and May, when the private sector gained 60,000 and 37,000 jobs, respectively. 'The weak numbers we're seeing now does not point to a labor market that's collapsing, but there is hiring hesitancy,' Richardson said Wednesday. 'It's like driving through fog for some of our firms here,' she added. Though the ripple effects from various Trump policies could take longer to show up in the data, the federal workforce reductions have already started appearing. The federal government posted job losses for three consecutive months, dropping 13,000 jobs in February, 4,000 in March and 9,000 in April, BLS data shows. More losses could be spread over many months to come: Not all federal workers were laid off immediately, and other actions are being challenged in court. Through May, announced job cuts are running significantly higher than in recent years; however, the lion's share of the cutbacks have come from the federal government. Department of Government Efficiency-related cost-cutting and its downstream effects have led to more than 294,000 announced job cuts, according to Challenger, Gray & Christmas data released Thursday. Another 131,257 announced cuts have been attributed to 'market/economic conditions,' while 2,097 have been directly tied to tariffs. 'Tariffs, funding cuts, consumer spending, and overall economic pessimism are putting intense pressure on companies' workforces,' Andrew Challenger, senior vice president of the outplacement and coaching firm, said in a statement. 'Companies are spending less, slowing hiring, and sending layoff notices.' DOGE's actions and economic uncertainty have driven job cut announcements significantly higher than last year: Through the first five months of the year, employers have announced 696,309 job cuts, an 80% increase from the comparable year-ago period, according to the Challenger report. It's also the third-highest total for a January-through-May period (behind the pandemic in 2020 and the Great Recession fallout in 2009) since Challenger started tracking employers' layoff intentions in 1993. In May, employers announced 93,816 job cuts, a decrease of 12% from April. The recent surge in layoff announcements could indicate that the labor market may see a further softening in the months to come (given the timing of the actions, severance and other effects); however, as it stands now, layoffs aren't mounting. Also, jobless claims (a proxy for layoffs) and the rate of layoffs and discharges remain below pre-pandemic levels, Labor Department data shows. Still, the impacts from tariffs might very well by a slow burn, Sahm said. 'We are still early days,' she said.
Yahoo
16 hours ago
- Yahoo
The Email Chain Heard 'Round the Corps: Top Enlisted Leader Makes Surprise Visit to Corporal's Graduation
Cpl. Andrew Hundley never expected fame, but after becoming a Marine Corps sensation overnight, he wields it with humility and gratitude. In mid-April, Hundley's staff noncommissioned officer attempted to route a military certificate he completed up the chain so he could get a spot in a Marine Corps program designed to give up-and-coming leaders the skills to take on greater roles within the service. But the email got sent forcewide, setting off a chain of hundreds of responses from Marines across the fleet and lighting social media ablaze with memes and fraternal adulation only members of the amphibious service can dish out. Read Next: Army Faces Backlash over Plan to Divert Barracks Funds to Border Mission On Thursday, Hundley, 24 years old and a cyberspace warfare operator from Colorado, graduated from that program, known as the Corporals Course, and the top enlisted leader of the Marine Corps, Sgt. Maj. Carlos Ruiz, made a surprise appearance to help herald his and the other junior leaders' accomplishment. "The Marine Corps gods have called upon me," Ruiz said at the graduation to cheers, laughs and whoops across the room for Hundley. "They were setting up a schedule, and the schedule somehow ended up with -- where you at, Hundley? Raise your hand ..." "An unintentional, so-innocent email that went to everyone," he said at Camp Johnson, North Carolina, where the event was held. In an interview with on Thursday, Hundley said that he was "ecstatic" to have the top enlisted Marine attend his graduation. He was quick to say that his staff sergeant was doing her due diligence in trying to get him into the course, but a glitch with the distro list led him out of the unknown and into the annals of Marine Corps lore. "I was worried more than anything that I would get in trouble or I was worried something bad was going to happen," he said. In the immediate aftermath, he said his leadership checked in on him, and then together they eventually leaned into the joke. "They took off with it and were super supportive about it," he said. "They didn't start making jokes or anything, they called me to ask if I was OK and they wanted to make sure I was doing OK." Soon, Hundley started getting requests to sign his certificate. The Marine Corps' official Instagram page got in on the joke in a post, declaring "take me off this distro" in the caption. Marines and veterans took to social media with memes, but ones that were wrapped in the congratulatory ribbing common to the Corps. "At least of my experience with the Marine Corps, we know when to be serious and that we know sometimes when it's a good time to not be serious," Hundley said. "It's a big community out there; everyone I've come across has been really motivational to talk to about [it], and I think it's a great way that we develop this because it's like friends and brother and sibling, how you have that humor with each other." After Ruiz posted to social media a video of his attendance at the Corporals Course graduation, Hundley said he started getting messages of support and congratulations from across the country, from Marines and veterans, too. He had heard rumors that Ruiz would be attending, but knew he had "so much stuff on his plate" that he wasn't certain. But he ended up being "completely amazed" -- and a little nervous -- that Ruiz attended and appreciated that he was there to celebrate with them. "To me, supporting our Marines in their endeavor to become [professional military education] complete was the win," Ruiz told through a spokesperson Thursday, referring to courses Marines take throughout their careers as they advance through the ranks. "We are Marines, and being a Marine can be difficult. As leaders, if we can take an opportunity like this and turn it into something positive that raises morale, then we should do it." Ruiz said that he too received the email chain and had "a good laugh" about a petition that received more than a thousand signatures to get the commandant of the Marine Corps to come to the graduation ceremony. Hundley said one his favorite replies to the email chain went something like, "I don't even breathe 8th comm air, why am I seeing this" in a request to get off of the distro list, referring to the 8th Communication Battalion at Camp Lejeune, North Carolina, where Hundley serves as a mission element leader in his platoon. He joined the Marine Corps in 2021, initially wanting to be a pilot in the Air Force. But a Marine Corps recruiter told him about opportunities in cyber after learning that Hundley enjoys building out computers as a hobby. Having worked with animals growing up, he said he intends to start volunteering at an animal shelter in North Carolina as part of his next steps and is looking forward to finishing his five-year contract in the Marine Corps, wanting to "give back … as much as I can" in that time period, before looking at other cyber opportunities in the government or private sector. "I didn't want this kind of thing to take away from the experience of all the other corporals that were going in that course with me, because they worked so hard," Hundley said. "They were amazing people, every one of them in their own different ways. And they were so inspirational. They deserved more fame than I ever got from it, even just that little bit." He was promoted to corporal last year and has thought a lot about the leader he is and wants to continue to be. Of the email saga, he said that he learned it's OK to not be "super serious all the time" and that part of being human is to "sit back and laugh" about the absurdities of life. "There's a lot of things I don't know, and I want to inspire growth in all of my Marines that I'm leading," he said. "I want them to know that they're amazing in their own ways, and that they have valued input and ideas. I want to inspire them to grow as their own human beings and leaders." Related: Marine Corps Releases New Details on Drone Competitions Coming to Bases Around the World
