Robots

 

Army fires tank-killing robots armed with Javelin missiles

The U.S. Army will soon operate robots able to destroy enemy armored vehicles with anti-tank missiles, surveil warzones under heavy enemy fire and beam back identified targeting details in seconds due to rapid progress with several new armed robot programs. 

Several of the new platforms now operate with a Kongsberg-built first-of-its-kind wireless fire control architecture for a robotic armored turret with machine guns, Javelin Anti-Tank Missiles and robot-mounted 30mm cannon selected by the Army to arm its fast-emerging Robotic Combat Vehicles. These now-in-development robotic systems are intended to network with manned vehicles in high-risk combat operations. 

The fast-evolving concept is to optimize state-of-the-art networking between manned armored vehicles operating in a command and control capacity and forward-positioned armed robots capable of testing enemy defenses, performing surveillance under enemy fire or simply firing upon and destroying enemy targets when directed by humans. 

Made by Kongsberg, the MCT-30 turret is the first remotely-operated turret to be qualified and fielded in the United States, and a wireless fire-control has been demonstrated in ongoing testing. The system recently demonstrated “secure transmissions of video and fire-control data including command signals over radio from the weapon station and the missile,” a Kongsberg statement says. A similar demo for the RCV-Medium is slated for next year.