01 June 2015 by Guy Martin - defenceWeb

B-Cat Military has finished development testing of its one hundred per cent South African designed and built Pathfinder unmanned ground vehicle (UGV), which is being offered to the South African National Defence Force (SANDF).

The civil version of the B-Cat has been around for a number of years and started out as an unmanned mining vehicle for exploring blasting areas. Roughly two years ago B-Cat Military began development of a version for defence and security applications, which is available for a variety of missions such as anti-poaching, reconnaissance, perimeter surveillance, riot control intelligence gathering, forward deployment etc.

The company’s Pieter le Roux told defenceWeb that development has concluded and the vehicle is ready for production. The Pathfinder recently test-fired its 12.7 mm Rogue remote control weapons cluster supplied by Reutech, and was demonstrated to the SANDF, which has expressed a lot of interest in the type. The SANDF has bought into the remote controlled and unmanned idea, according to le Roux.

Le Roux said the vehicle would initially be marketed locally, targeting entities like the police (which could use it as a non-lethal crowd control tool), security services and the military before moving into the rest of Africa, as the Pathfinder is “an African machine for the African theatre of war.”

B-Cat Military said the Pathfinder is designed to operate in complex urban environments. “The Pathfinder UGV operates in close support to dismounted soldiers to also provide a forward fire suppression platform with an added additional payload carrying capacity. Some of the possible payloads include ammunition, chemical, biological, radiological and nuclear (CBRN) detection, intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance (ISR), weapons, supplies, medical equipment etc.”

For base protection duties, the Pathfinder could be used to investigate intruder alarms, function as a mobile remotely operated radar and night vision or thermal imaging platform and could engage intruders with weapons.

In the support role, B-Cat Military said that the Pathfinder can be used by dismounted infantry sections to detect and destroy improvised explosive devices (IEDs), function as an ambush early warning system, gather intelligence, provide missile/small arms fire protection and provide communications support.

The Pathfinder can be fitted with limited mine protection and mine detection technology.

One of the envisioned roles for the Pathfinder is medical evacuation of injured soldiers out of combat zones, the replenishment of medical supplies to forward lines and protection for injured and medical personnel.

The six wheeled Pathfinder can be remotely operated at distances of between 400 metres and seven kilometres, terrain and communications systems dependant. The vehicle weights 800 kg without equipment and can carry a 300 kg payload. It is 1.7 metres long, 1.1 metres wide and .8 metres high. Its battery allows for ten hours of operation, but the battery pack can be switched out for continuous operation.

Le Roux explained to defenceWeb that the Pathfinder can be made bigger or smaller depending on customer requirements and is very flexible in terms of payload, use, size and weight. For instance, it could be used for firefighting or carry stretchers and have customer equipment integrated onto it.

The vehicle was displayed at the Africa Aerospace and Defence (AAD) exhibition in September last year with a mast-mounted Reutech radar and day sights, but can be fitted with other sights and equipment. Reutech said it is quite unique on the continent and had generated a lot of interest during AAD 2014. Le Roux said the niche market the Pathfinder is serving could be “quite substantial.”

B-Cat Military offers the Pathfinder with a control station and battery packs or can supply it with a transport vehicle, such as a Toyota Land Cruiser or Mercedes Sprinter. This would be fitted with a control station, recharging point and quick offload tray. The Pathfinder can also be aircraft deployed.

13/8/2014 IsraelDefense

For the first time ever, a remote controlled APC participated in the fighting in Gaza, manufactured by G-NIUS

For the first time ever, a remote controlled, unmanned APC participated in combat during Operation Protective Edge.

Information about the unmanned activity was first published in "Israel Hayom".

The APC delivered four tons of supplies each time it entered the field. Soldiers activated it from a control center outside the border, equipped with a screen that transmitted the image seen from the driver's side of the carrier, and gas and brake pedals.

The APC was presented to IsraelDefense by the CEO of G-NIUS, the company that develops it, at the Eurosatory exhibition in Paris two months ago. G-NIUS is a joint company of IAI and Elbit Systems, which also manufactures the first UGV operating in border patrol missions, called "G-NIUS".

The company's CEO, Brig. Gen. (res.) Yoav Hirsch, noted that a line of new development are on the agenda, and in fact it is possible to make all manned vehicles – unmanned.

The APC that took part in the fighting in Gaza is a M-113 APC, called "Zelda" by the soldiers (its official IDF name it "Bardelas"). A similar APC was hit by anti-tank fire during the fighting in Shuja'iyya. Seven soldiers were killed by that fire, and six others were killed during the rescue operation

OSHKOSH, Wis., June 16 (UPI)

Unmanned ground vehicles by Oshkosh Defense are being put through their paces in Paris this week at Eurosatory 2014 in Paris.

The vehicles, which are navigating a course that simulates military route clearance, as equipped with Terremax, the company' s modular, multi-sensor appliqué kit that can be integrated into new vehicles or retrofitted onto earlier ones.

Vehicles equipped with the TerraMax UGV can easily collaborate with manned vehicles. The company is developing the technology independently as well as in collaboration with the U.S. Army and Marine Corps.

The demonstrations in Paris are taking place through Friday. The U.S. military recently conducted evaluations of UGV convoys in the United States.

"Vehicles equipped with TerraMax UGV can be used in concert with manned vehicles for a spectrum of operations including logistics convoys, route clearance and counter-IED missions, airfield construction and support, and more," said Urias. "This technology allows vehicles to operate for extended periods of time through challenging terrain, dust, darkness, rain, snow and other adverse conditions without the fatigue or loss of awareness that can afflict human operators."

The Mobile Detection Assessment Response System surveys the area around the expeditionary airfield at Marine Corps Air Ground Combat Center Twentynine Palms, Calif., on Feb. 6. (Cpl. D.J. Wu / Marine Corps)

March 9, 2014. David Pugliese - Defence Watch

The Marine Corps Times is reporting that the Corps is experimenting with a new unmanned ground vehicle that can patrol installations and detect intruders or potential enemy forces nearly a mile away.

More from the Marine Corps Times:

The Mobile Detection Assessment Response System, or MDARS, was used in late January to successfully secure an air base during the latest Integrated Training Exercise — the final predeployment workup all units conduct at Marine Corps Air Ground Combat Center Twentynine Palms, Calif. The vehicle could be headed to Afghanistan, according to its developers, although concrete plans have not been made.

A field demonstration of MDARS began Jan. 30 at the combat center’s Camp Wilson. The vehicle successfully aided members of Marine Aircraft Group 13 and Marine Wing Support Squadron 374 to patrol the area immediately surrounding their airfield as a mock enemy force tried to probe their defenses.

During the first night, the vehicle was autonomously navigating around the base — by heading to predetermined waypoints — when guards in one tower detected two potential enemy soldiers, said Pat Culliton, the MDARS program manager with San Diego-based Space and Naval Warfare Systems Center Pacific.

“We were operating between two towers and one of the towers reported some activity,” Culliton said. “From the operator control station you just click a button and say go there.”

Full story here

30/1/2014 Ami Rojkes Dombe - israeldefense.com

Unmanned Ground Vehicles fitted with Remotely Controlled Weapon Stations are a part of the future battlefield. “Our goal is to adapt the stations to a wide range of UGV types,” says Yizhar S., in charge of land systems marketing at Rafael

Unmanned Ground Vehicles (UGVs) on the battlefield are an established fact. If, until a few years ago, anyone doubted the feasibility of this technology, he should look to the Order of Battle of the US Army to understand the global trend – in 2004 the US Army had about 150 UGVs, and today their ORBAT consists of tens of thousands. For the Israeli industries, it is a developing global market. According to various forecasts, it is expected to reach a turnover of about $12 billion by 2019.

One of the derivatives of this market consists of ‘shooter’ UGVs. Admittedly, this is a problematic technology, to say the least, in terms of ethics and safety, but as far as operational aspects are concerned, a UGV fitted with a Remotely Controlled Weapon Station (RCWS) is the ‘Silver Bullet’ in the eyes of many. The ability, on the one hand, to initiate offensive action, including fire, while on the other minimizing the risk to human life to zero, is attractive not only to field commanders and warfighters, but also to the politicians, who identify in this technology a breakthrough political tool.

“The development of weapon stations for UGVs is one of the objectives of Rafael’s business strategy,” says Yizhar S., in charge of land systems marketing at Rafael. “Over the last few years we gained extensive experience in this field, from a layout of stationary weapon stations on towers, which includes between four and six weapon stations controlled from a distance of several kilometers through optical fibers, to weapon stations fitted to such unmanned vehicles as the Protector USV.

“As the development processes for the sea and land theaters take place at Rafael under the same division, the knowledge we gained through the development of the Protector USV is used in the development of ground vehicles as well. Admittedly, there is a difference between the environments and the conditions under which the vehicles are operated, but as far as the aspects of steering, safety and control are concerned, both environments are similar. On land it is a little more difficult to steer the vehicle, owing to the changing terrain conditions, but we have already found solutions for these challenges.

“One should bear in mind that this technology precedes most of the world in this field. We are currently participating in one of the world’s first projects involving the mounting of a weapon station on a UGV used by IDF. In the context of this project, we examine the feasibility of arming several vehicles, commanded remotely using cameras and other sensors. It is another phase in the development of the technology, pursuant to the last five years during which the IDF have been employing stationary Sentry-Tech weapon stations.”

Adapting Weapon Stations to UGVs of Various Sizes

Another challenge Rafael is addressing calls for the dimensions of the weapon stations to be reduced so that they may fit UGVs of various sizes. “Our weapon stations are basically suitable for standard vehicles,” explains S. “For small UGVs whose load carrying capacity is limited – and most of them belong in this category – the weapon stations need to be smaller. We have an idea for the development of a station for small firearms such as a handgun, but it will be a relatively long development process. Once completed, Rafael will have a diversified range of weapon stations in various sizes, which would provide solutions for a diversified range of ground platforms at different price levels.

“As far as the technological aspect is concerned, Rafael’s advantage stems from the ability to control the weapon station and from its safety standards. We are world leaders in this field, mainly owing to the requirements of the IDF, which are a highly advanced military regarding the field of weapon stations, compared to other armed forces. Even the Americans do not rush to adopt such stations owing to the safety issue. We have passed the safety tests of the IDF for the sea environment as well as for the land environment. All that remains are technological challenges with which we would be able to cope.”

The technological complexity notwithstanding, there is still no structured regulation around the world for the field of shooter UGVs. He explains that in Europe and the US they seldom address this issue owing to the safety aspects. Asia and South America are still untapped markets for this field, so at this point there is not a lot of demand for these vehicles.

“This technology will remain the domain of very few countries in the future as well,” says Yizhar S. “The target audience for these vehicles will be relatively limited, owing to safety considerations. At the same time, as long as there is demand in the IDF, we will continue to develop this field. In the world of HLS it is not likely that shooter UGVs will enter service with police forces and we would see them on city streets. In the end, what you have here is an unmanned, armed vehicle that you want to deploy in an urban environment teeming with people. There is still a lot of apprehension around this issue.”

A US soldier drops an unmanned ground vehicle over a wall during an exercise at White Sands Missile Range, N.M., in 2010. (US Army)

Jan. 20, 2014 - By PAUL McLEARY – Defense News

WASHINGTON — The postwar, sequestration-era US Army is working on becoming “a smaller, more lethal, deployable and agile force,” according to Gen. Robert Cone, head of the service’s Training and Doctrine Command.

But just how much smaller might come as a surprise.

During remarks at the Army Aviation Symposium in Arlington, Va., on Jan. 15, Cone quietly dropped a bomb. The Army, he said, is considering the feasibility of shrinking the size of the brigade combat team from about 4,000 soldiers to 3,000 over the coming years, and replacing the lost soldiers with robots and unmanned platforms.

“I’ve got clear guidance to think about what if you could robotically perform some of the tasks in terms of maneuverability, in terms of the future of the force,” he said, adding that he also has “clear guidance to rethink” the size of the nine-man infantry squad.

He mentioned using unmanned ground vehicles that would follow manned platforms, which would require less armor and protection, thereby reducing the weight of a brigade combat team.

Over the past 12 years of war, “in favor of force protection we’ve sacrificed a lot of things,” he said. “I think we’ve also lost a lot in lethality.” And the Army wants that maneuverability, deployability and firepower back.

The Army is already on a path to shrink from 540,000 soldiers to about 490,000 by the end of 2015, and will likely slide further to 420,000 by 2019, according to reports.

Cone said his staff is putting together an advisory panel to look at those issues, including fielding a smaller brigade.

“Don’t you think 3,000 people is probably enough probably to get by” with increased technological capabilities, he asked.

It’s hard to see such a radical change to the makeup of the brigage combat team as anything else than a budget move, borne out of the necessity of cutting the personnel costs that eat up almost half of the service’s total budget.

Cone used the Navy as an example of what the Army is trying to do.

“When you see the success, frankly, that the Navy has had in terms of lowering the numbers of people on ships, are there functions in the brigade that we could automate — robots or manned/unmanned teaming — and lower the number of people that are involved given the fact that people are our major cost,” he said.

Some of Cone’s blue-sky thinking was echoed by Lt. Gen. Keith Walker in a Jan. 6 interview with Defense News.

In what Walker called the “deep future” — about the 2030 to 2040 time frame — he said that “we’ll need to fundamentally change the nature of the force, and that would require a breakthrough in science and technology.”

While Walker, the commander of the Army Capabilities Integration Center, which oversees much of the Army’s modernization and doctrinal changes, didn’t talk about replacing soldiers with robots, he did say the Army wants to revamp its “tooth-to-tail” ratio, or the number of soldiers performing support functions versus those who actually pull triggers.

“Right now our force is roughly two-third tooth and one-third tail, so as we decrease the size of the Army you may end up reducing one-third tooth and two-third tail, but what if you could slide that fulcrum? Maybe it’s one-half to one-half. The point is you get to keep more tooth, more folks that actually conduct operations on the ground and less supporting structure.”

The Army is already heading down that path in the structure of its brigade combat teams, announcing last year that it was adding a third maneuver battalion to each brigade, along with engineering and fires capabilities. It is adding more punch to its brigade combat teams while reducing the number of teams it fields from 45 to 33 by the end of fiscal 2017, while transferring some of those soldiers to the existing brigades.

MOSCOU, 4 juin - RIA Novosti

Donner à des robots un travail dangereux pour l'homme est complètement normal. Les plus grandes puissances militaires travaillent déjà dans ce sens et la Russie ne devrait pas prendre de retard, écrit mardi le quotidien Vedomosti du 4 juin 2013.

Le ministre de la Défense russe Sergueï Choïgou a reconnu hier que les appareils de combat robotisés russes étaient pour l'instant en retard par rapport à leurs concurrents étrangers. La conception de robots de combat est prévue par le programme de défense 2011-2020 mais les délais sont constamment retardés et la qualité de la production se réduit en raison du retard technologique des entreprises, une mauvaise organisation de travail sur les contrats d'Etat et le manque de personnel qualifié.

L'an dernier le vice-premier ministre de la Défense Dmitri Rogozine évoquait également la nécessité de créer une intelligence artificielle pour remplacer le matériel militaire piloté et appelait à "ne pas craindre des tâches fantastiques". Cette année Rogozine a déjà annoncé la conception de robots qui auraient pour mission d'évacuer des blessés du lieu d'un attentat et de neutraliser les terroristes.

Les militaires sont enthousiastes et considèrent que les robots de combat sont l'avenir de l'armée.

Rogozine est préoccupé par les intérêts de l'industrie de l'armement et Choïgou par ceux de l'armée. Aujourd'hui pourtant le conflit entre l'armée et l'industrie de l'armement, comme à l'époque d'Anatoli Serdioukov, s'est éteint. Mais les risques existent tout de même : par exemple, Rogozine et Choïgou créent tous les deux des concepts militaires novateurs que la presse compare à l'agence américaine Darpa.

Les robots sont un nouveau "sujet" qui peut être vendu au gouvernement en échange d'une part de budget. Et il est très important de savoir si l'argent versé financera une magnifique utopie ou un quotidien triste mais nécessaire. L'industrie de l'armement russe a encore beaucoup de retard sur les meilleurs concepteurs de drones ou d'appareils robotisés terrestres et sous-marins. Chaque pays connaît des lenteurs dans certains secteurs mais la Russie est également en retard sur les Etats-Unis dans le développement d'un système commun de gestion des troupes reliant toutes les unités tactiques entre elles.

Cependant, la lenteur de l'industrie russe pourrait être bénéfique dans un certain sens : au moins, la Russie ne créera pas SkyNet et ne sera pas responsable du soulèvement des machines.

19.04.2013 Northrop Grumman - army-guide.com

LONDON, -- Northrop Grumman Corporation has launched CUTLASS, its latest generation unmanned ground vehicle (UGV), expanding its range of industry-leading capabilities in unmanned systems for the remote handling and surveillance of hazardous threats.

CUTLASS has been designed, developed and manufactured by Northrop Grumman in the U.K., and includes significant advances in technology and performance and a range of features that provides state-of-the-art capabilities for national security and resilience applications.

"Our CUTLASS vehicle is setting new standards in the UGV market and significantly enhancing the ability of users to handle hazardous threats safely. It is more dexterous, cost effective and, as a package, four times faster than any other UGV," said Greg Roberts, managing director, defence and security, Northrop Grumman Information Systems Europe. "The vehicle is already in service across the U.K. and has proven itself to be robust and capable in the most demanding environments. We look forward to exploiting the potential opportunities for exporting this capability into international markets."

CUTLASS will be on display in Northrop Grumman's exhibit at the Counter Terror Expo, where it will also show its range of capabilities in daily live scenario-based demonstrations. The international exhibition and conference Counter Terror Expo takes place at the National Hall, Olympia, London, April 24-25.

CUTLASS offers the latest technology in a modular design, enabling the user to deal safely with the full range of hazardous threats from a distance, including the detection and disposal of explosive ordnance. Its highly versatile design means that it is capable of accommodating a wide range of payloads, sensors and tools. It carries all of the tools and sensors it needs to perform the full range of operations required for explosive ordnance disposal and other applications, avoiding the need to deploy two standard UGVs. CUTLASS saves up to 50 percent on the through-life costs when compared to owning and operating two standard UGVs.

The manipulator arm is equipped with a three-fingered, state-of-the-art gripper and has nine degrees of freedom for greater movement and agility inside limited spaces. With a specialised sensing system it provides a high level of control and dexterity to minimize damage to property and preserve forensic evidence.

Using CUTLASS, a hazardous situation can be restored to normal up to four times more quickly than with any other UGV. The combination of the speed of the wheeled platform, which can reach speeds of up to 12 kph, and the ability of CUTLASS to carry multiple tools and sensors negates the need to return to the incident control point, thus saving considerable time. The robot is able to creep along at deliberately slow speeds for delicate operations and may accelerate to high speeds to enable rapid travel. The six-wheeled design offers mobility on all types of hard and soft terrain and in all weather conditions.

Northrop Grumman's unmanned ground vehicle business has been established in Coventry, U.K., for more than 20 years. Today, the company designs, develops and manufactures in the U.K. some of the most capable and reliable unmanned ground vehicles available, from the Wheelbarrow bomb disposal robot to the latest vehicle, CUTLASS.

Northrop Grumman has more than 2,000 unmanned ground vehicle systems in operation around the world.

Northrop Grumman is a leading global security company providing innovative systems, products and solutions in unmanned systems, cybersecurity, C4ISR, and logistics and modernization to government and commercial customers worldwide.