After almost a month, this Friday ends an exercise that has carried out the NATO together with the European Defense Agency and the Navy Portuguese off the coast of the latter country. He REPMUS (acronym in English of robotic experimentation and prototyped with unmanned maritime systems) XV has had the participation of 24 nations and have been tested more than 300 unmanned platformsboth in sea and on land and air. Among them, the A-UGV Mission Master which was released last Tuesday to the Atlantic from a warship and, autonomously, headed to the Portuguese beaches and then enter itself on the ground.
‘(Mission Master 2.0) was embarked on a warship that sailed in raging waters and dropped into the sea with a crane; His mission was to return autonomously to the beach near the test area‘, explained Defense News Ethienne RancourtDirector of International Business Development of Rheinmetall Canadarobot manufacturer.
Rancourt calls the vehicle Mission Master 2.0without being clear in which of the Master Master that make up the A-UGV family is based. He also points out that he incorporates improvements derived from the suggestions of the operators.
‘The version you see here includes improvements based on current user feedback, including USA., Norway and United Kingdom. All are mainly focused on increasing the robustness and stability of the vehicle‘, he says. These improvements seek to guarantee reliability in salted water and stability conditions when crossing coastal land.
The success of the test shows that the A-UGV can complete a mar-earth traffic and then operate on a firm surface no need for tow or direct recovery by humans.
For the amphibious essay, Rheinmetall Canada has used a mission master equipped with a kit that includes a captive drone supplied by the French Elistaira radar Echodyne from the United States and Mast with sensor package of the manufacturer. This configuration seeks to support exploration, recognition and communications functions during an amphibious approach, papers that marine and marine infantry units increasingly demand unmanned systems.
The A-UGV Mission Master range
UGV Mission Master’s family covers various sizes and mission profiles, covering Surveillance, Logistics, Low Evacuation, Retransmission of Communications and Support Fireaccording to Rheinmetalll on its website.
Mission Master Sp It is a compact and electrical vehicle with a low and silent profile that is suitable for close support missions, observation and light transport on difficult land.
Mission Master CXT It has diesel-electrical hybrid motorization and good amphibious mobility with full load. It is designed for company/squad level missions in which it can be integrated and in demanding environments. It provides close support in tasks such as team transport, surveillance, communications or even support fire.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aoz0ma-35yc
Mission Master XT It is the largest and most robust version, with dimensions of 3.72 × 2.55 × 1.90 meters and a weight of 2,200 kilograms. Use a diesel engine for long routes (extended reach) and is designed to operate on extreme land maintaining complete amphibious capacity.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y5exkjd_n9o
All models use the Path a-kit Rheinmetall for autonomous navigation and driving. This allows monitoring modes (the soldier or vehicle), convoy and full autonomy to reduce the routine tasks of the soldiers.
‘Rheinmetall undertakes to always keep a human in the circuit in all kinetic operations, guaranteeing that it is never a machine that decides when to open fire‘, says the company on its website.
‘The Path A-Kit has an open and flexible architecture, which means that he will quickly integrate first-hand innovations As artificial intelligence technologies evolve‘, he indicates. This architecture is designed so that armed forces can exchange sensors and software No need to replace the entire vehicle.
Exercise in Portugal is a sample of the growing interest in unmanned systems capable of operating both in the sea and on land. Armies can be very benefited from the use of Robots that are forward in exploration, obtain intelligence on beaches and coastal areas and transport supplies during landing operations.