America military’s fleet of unmanned vehicles may soon get some extra support, now that Lockheed Martin’s Squad Mission Support System (SMSS) has received the military’s official blessing. Designed to support infantry squads or special ops forces, the company’s autonomous craft was recently crowned the winner of the Army-sponsored Project Workhorse Unmanned Ground Vehicle competition, after greater than a decade of development. Measuring 11 feet in length, the SMSS is able to transporting greater than 1,000 pounds of apparatus over rugged terrain, and lines a fixed of onboard sensors which will automatically track individuals by recognizing their 3D profiles. Both the SMSS and its Block I variant could be carried aboard CH-47 and CH-53 choppers, with the latter offering a driving range of 125 miles. Three of the beasts will deploy to Afghanistan for a 3-month evaluation later this year, when they’ll become the biggest unmanned vehicles to ever deploy with infantry. Shoot past the break for a video tour of the SMSS, together with the total press release.
DALLAS, TX, July 28th, 2011 –
The U.S. Army Rapid Equipping Force, in the course of the Robotics Technology Consortium, selected the Lockheed Martin [NYSE:LMT] Squad Mission Support System (SMSS) to deploy to Afghanistan for a primary-of-its-kind military assessment. SMSS will deploy because the winner of the Project Workhorse Unmanned Ground Vehicle (UGV) competition sponsored by the military.
The most important autonomous vehicle ever to be deployed with infantry, the 11-foot-long SMSS can carry greater than half-a-ton of a squad’s equipment on rugged terrain, easing the person soldier’s burden, which may often exceed 100 pounds.
“SMSS is the results of greater than a decade of robotic technology development, and we welcome the chance to illustrate this capability in theater, where it would have an instantaneous impact on the squad level,” said Scott Greene, vp of ground vehicles in Lockheed Martin’s Missiles and Fire Control business. “The military has tested the system’s capabilities in three domestic user assessments, and SMSS have been deemed able to deploy.”
As portion of the 3-month Military Utility Assessment (MUA), four vehicles and a field service representative will support light infantry in theater because the service evaluates how autonomous vehicles can support or ease the equipment burden for deployed troops. A fifth vehicle and an engineering team will remain within the U.S. for analysis and further support. The military plans to start the Afghanistan assessment late this year, after a period of evaluations and coaching.
“An in-theater assessment is the subsequent logical step within the technique of informing the necessities for the Army’s future squad-sized UGV developments,” Greene said.
a completely-loaded SMSS is internally transportable on board CH-47 and CH-53 helicopters, providing new logistics capability to light and early-entry forces. The SMSS Block I variant, that may be deployed, has quite a number 125 miles and contours three control options: supervised autonomy, tele-operation or manually driven. The SMSS sensor suite allows it to fasten on and follow any individual by recognizing their digital 3-D profile (captured by the onboard sensors), and it is able to also navigate terrain by itself following a trail of GPS waypoints.
Apart from a month-long MUA at Fort Benning, Ga., in 2009, SMSS was selected for further evaluation as a part of the Army’s Expeditionary Warrior Experiment (AEWE) Spiral G in November this year. While SMSS has already demonstrated its ability to lessen soldier loads and supply portable power, the November experiment will evaluate its ability to field a reconnaissance, surveillance and target acquisition mission equipment package.
Headquartered in Bethesda, Md., Lockheed Martin is an international security company that employs about 126,000 people worldwide and is especially engaged within the research, design, development, manufacture, integration and sustainment of advanced technology systems, services and products. The Corporation’s 2010 sales from continuing operations were $45.8 billion.
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