Page 83 – Defense Daily

Army Interested In Developing Larger M-MET Logistics Ground Robot

The Army is looking to build a new, larger version of its equipment-carrying ground robot, with plans to consider approving a requirement for the program this spring.

Maj. Gen. Michelle Donahue, head of the Army’s Combined Arms Support Command, said this week the Medium Modular Equipment Transport (M-MET) concept would look to develop a platform that’s larger than the current Small Multipurpose Equipment Transport (S-MET) robot but smaller than its Oshkosh Defense

[OSK] Palletized Load System (PLS) logistics trucks.

U.S. Army Staff Sgt. David Marko, a Cavalry Scout assigned to the Reconnaissance and Strike Co., 2nd Light Brigade Combat Team, 25th Infantry Division prepares the Squad Multipurpose Equipment Transport (SMET) for movement during the Joint Pacific Multinational Readiness Center 25-01 (JPMRC), at Dillingham Airfield, Oahu, Hawaii, Oct. 7, 2024. (U.S. Army photo by Spc. Abreanna Goodrich)

The M-MET concept will be presented to the Army Requirements Oversight Council for approval this spring, Donahue said in remarks at the National Defense Industrial Association’s Tactical Wheeled Vehicles Conference, adding the idea is to have an unmanned platform that’s “tethering a forward support company to that forward logistics release point” to assist with transferring supplies.

Col. William Arnold, the Army’s chief of transportation, told Defense Daily the Army envisions the M-MET as a roughly 7,500-pound platform.

“[M-MET would be] a versatile platform designed to enhance the flexibility and responsiveness of our logistics operations. We envision the M-MET to offer a diverse load-carrying capability and off-board power generation enabling forward sustainment units to effectively resupply company-size operations,” Arnold said in remarks Tuesday at the conference.

The Army has been fielding the S-MET Inc. I equipment-carrying ground robot, built by General Dynamics Land Systems [GD], which it has described as a “single radio-controlled, eight-wheeled platform designed to carry payload, generate power for organic electronic systems and conduct unconstrained movement” capable of carrying 1,000 pounds of equipment.

This past September, the Army announced it had selected American Rheinmetall and HDT Expeditionary Systems for the S-MET Inc. II prototyping effort, with plans to potentially award a production contract in late fiscal year 2027 that may cover more than 2,000 systems (Defense Daily, Sept. 25 2024).

For S-MET Inc. II, the Army said it aims to “double the payload capacity,” while also getting after capability for higher exportable power to enable drones and communications equipment, further reducing the audio signature, supporting dismounted wireless mesh communication networks, increased reliability and further the platform’s modularity with open architecture designs for easier upgrades.

The Army has also said it will look to “drive commonality” with S-MET Inc. II as it aims to integrate payloads that expand the robotic platform beyond its equipment carrying role, eyeing multi-mission capability with weapons and equipment packages that can enable mission areas for “movement to contact” and “suppression and overwatch” (Defense Daily, Oct. 25 2024).

Arnold said the Army is envisioning a similar modular design concept for the future M-MET that would allow for reconfiguration to work with “any type of load.”

“We can put ammunition on it. We can deliver water with it. We can deliver fuel with it. [We can do that] all at the same time by having the ability to generate power and have that power available on the battlefield. That also is going to be a game changing capability,” Arnold said.

Arnold said the Army sees the M-MET as part of an ecosystem of platforms supporting future logistics operations alongside S-METs and autonomous PLS trucks utilizing the future Autonomous Transport Vehicle System (ATV-S).

“Imagine all that working together on the battlefield,” Arnold said. “That’s what we’re driving toward and that’s what we’re trying to bring to bear.”

The Army is aiming to begin fielding its first autonomous PLS trucks integrated with ATV-S in fiscal year 2027, with the program currently in a competitive prototyping phase with Forterra and Carnegie Robotics (Defense Daily, Feb. 26).

Maj. Gen. Robert Barrie, the Army procurement office’s deputy for acquisition and systems management, said this week the service plans to deliver “thousands” of S-METs and GM Defense [GM] Infantry Squad Vehicles in the coming years as it moves out on its Transforming in Contact initiative to rapidly field new capabilities (Defense Daily, Feb. 25).

DIU Lacks Performance Goals For Scaling Commercial Technology, GAO Says

A recent shift in plans by the Defense Department’s Defense Innovation Unit (DIU) to accelerate efforts to speed the adoption of commercial technologies for use by warfighters is lacking the establishment of performance goals to measure success of the effort, the Government Accountability Office (GAO) says in a new report.

DIU needs a performance management process to define goals, collect related data, and then use the information to chart progress toward the goals and inform its decisions, the congressional auditors say in the report, DIU: Actions Needed to Assess Progress and Further Enhance Collaboration (GAO-25-106856).

“DIU does not yet have clear insight into whether it is making progress to achieve its 3.0 strategic goal of helping DoD solve its most critical operational gaps,” GAO says. “This is because DIU does not have a complete performance management process to assess its results.”

DIU is working with the secretary of defense on measurable performance goals such as the number of capabilities that have transitioned to fielding but told auditors it did not have a date for establishing success metrics. Showcasing the number of commercial technologies that transition to the warfighter is an important market to incentivize industry to work with DoD, and to demonstrate success to Congress, the report says.

DIU in August 2023 transitioned to its current plan, DIU 3.0, which is aimed at rapidly scaling the transition of commercial technologies to meet DoD’s most critical needs. The plan was released publicly last February (Defense Daily, Feb. 7, 2024).

The plan also called for DIU to integrate two other entities, the National Security Innovation Network (NSIN) and National Security Innovation Capital (NSIC), into the office by early 2024. NSIN builds relationships among academia, startups, and defense organizations around innovative solutions that meet national security needs while NSIC provides resources to startups for dual-use hardware.

GAO says that DIU still has not said if NSIN’s and NSIC’s goals align with that the goal of DIU 3.0. Still, the report says some of these entities’ activities support DIU’s goal, highlighting that NSIN supports venture capital backed companies that are developing dual-use technologies that meet DoD needs.

DIU said it welcomes GAO’s recommendations and remains committed to quickly transitioning commercial technologies at scale to warfighters.

“With the release of the DIU 3.0 strategy in late 2023, DIU has been implementing against the plan, formally integrating the National Security Innovation Capital and National Security Innovation Network teams into a new Commercial Operations structure, embedding personnel into the Combatant Commands, re-evaluating current and future prototype projects in close partnership with the Services and other DoD components, establishing new bodies that help coordinate on DoD-wide innovation efforts like Replicator and the Defense Innovation Community of Entities that are designed to deliver critical capability fast while helping the Department build new muscle to do so again and again, and rethinking how we evaluate and measure success on accelerating commercial technology into the DoD,” DIU said on Thursday in a statement.

Kratos Ends Strong Year With Solid Fourth Quarter; Sees $1 Billion Sales Potential With Prometheus

Kratos Defense & Security Solutions [KTOS] on Wednesday reported solid fourth quarter financial results on growth across its operating segments, although bottom-line results were mixed as operating income fell but net income overall was higher after excluding a bump from non-controlling interests a year ago.

Net income was up 63 percent to $3.9 million, 3 cents earnings per share (EPS), from $2.4 million (2 cents EPS) in the fourth quarter of 2023. Adjusting for taxes, interest expense, restructuring costs, stock-based compensation, amortization and other non-operating items, per share earnings of 13 cents in the fourth quarter topped consensus estimates by 3 pennies.

Operating income fell due to lower earnings in the Kratos Government Solutions segment, down on revenue mix and resources. The Kratos Unmanned Systems segment swung to a loss on revenue mix, increased subcontractor and material costs on some multi-year fixed-price contracts, and higher research and development expenses.

The company’s sales in the quarter rose 3 percent to $283.1 million from $273.8 million on the strength of increased revenue from targeting drones, turbine technologies, C5ISR, defense rocket support, and microwave products. Growth was hampered by an expected $16.1 million decline in the space and satellite business, due in part to delays at Airbus Group

and Thales on the manufacture and delivery of software defined satellites.

Overall, in 2024 Kratos swung to a net profit of $16.3 million (11 cents EPS) from a loss of $8.9 million (7 cents EPS) in 2023. Adjusted earnings of 49 cents EPS were up 7 cents while adjusted margin rose 10 basis points to 9.3 percent. Sales for the year increased 10 percent to $1.1 billion versus $1 billion a year ago with 9 percent of the growth organic.

Kratos tallied $1.4 billion in orders in 2024, representing a book-to-bill ratio of 1.2 times sales, and backlog stood at over $1.4 billion, up 18 percent from more than $1.2 billion at the end of 2023.
The outlook for 2025 is for sales to increase 10 percent to $1.3 billion and adjusted earnings of between $112 million and $118 million versus $105.7 million in 2024. Free cash flow is expected to be negative $75 million to $85 million due to planned capital expenditures of between $125 million and $135 million in production facilities related to the Valkyrie unmanned system, microwave, hypersonic and engine facilities, and other facilities.

Excluded in this year’s capital spending plans is Kratos’ half of a $175 million investment it is making with Israel’s Rafael Defense Systems in a new energetics facility in Indiana that will leverage Rafael’s rocket motor and warhead experience in Israel to create a new U.S.-based merchant supplier. Most of the expenses for the 500-acre Prometheus Energetics facility will be borne in 2026 with production set to begin in 2027 pending certification and qualification, Eric DeMarco, president and CEO of Kratos, said Wednesday evening on the company’s earnings call.

DeMarco expects industrial-base funding will largely offset or reduce the company’s costs to stand up Prometheus, which he said will ultimately have about 300 employees. Once the facility is at rate production, it expects to generate “several hundred million” dollars in sales annually, proving the business case for Prometheus, he said.

The potential long-term sales for Prometheus are $1 billion annually as the business adds new customers, DeMarco said.

Rafael will initially be the “anchor customer” for Prometheus and eventually also address U.S. requirements for solid rocket motors and warheads, DeMarco said, nodding to the Trump administration’s new Golden Dome for America homeland air defense initiative. The various energetics produced by Prometheus will be based on the same qualified technologies Rafael uses in Israel, which will make certification and qualification in the U.S. happen relatively quickly, a competitive advantage versus the various new entrants in the domestic rocket motor space, he said.

Kratos also offered rough guidance in 2026, with sales expected to grow 13 to 15 percent over 2025 and adjusted operating margin also increasing.

During the earnings call, Kratos disclosed that it recently acquired Norden Millimeter for $37.8 million in stock, adding to its growing microwave business.

Pentagon Says SDA Meeting Minimum Viable Product, But GAO Notes Problems

DoD says that the U.S. Space Force’s Space Development Agency (SDA) has met the “minimum viable product” (MVP) standard for the agency’s Proliferated Warfighter Space Architecture Tranche 0 Transport Layer communications satellites and Tracking Layer missile warning satellites, but a Government Accountability Office (GAO) report said that four evaluated contractors for the Tranche 0 satellites have only met standards four times out of 32 in eight optical communications terminal (OCT) categories.

SpaceX hit the mark three times–in the category of Tracking Layer space-to-space laser links among SpaceX satellites in the same orbital plane, Tracking Layer space-to-space data transmission among SpaceX satellites in the same orbital plane, and Tracking Layer space-to-ground laser links.

York Space Systems passed muster in the Transport Layer space-to-space laser links among York satellites, while Lockheed Martin [LMT] and L3Harris Technologies [LHX] did not hit any of the marks, according to the GAO report, Laser Communications: Space Development Agency Should Create Links Between Development Phases (GAO 25-106838).

“SDA has met the MVP for [Tranche o], which is to demonstrate the feasibility of the proliferated architecture in cost, schedule, and scalability towards necessary performance for beyond line of sight targeting and advanced missile detection and tracking,” the Pentagon wrote on Feb. 6 in response to the GAO report. “SDA’s MVP for the [Tranche 0] Transport Layer includes periodic regional access for low latency data connectivity, data directly to tactical elements, and data disseminated to theater targeting cells.”

“[Tranche O] validates our approach and achieved stated objectives: Link-16 from space-to-ground, air, and sea; and forming an optical network in low Earth orbit for both the Transport and Tracking Layers,” DoD said. “SDA continues to incorporate lessons from [Tranche 0] into [Tranche 1], Tranche 2, and future tranches.”

Yet, former SDA Director Derek Tournear, who is on administrative leave, said in October “that SDA is no longer planning to develop an MVP, rather that the agency considers the MVP to be equivalent to the MVC [minimum viability capability].”

GAO said that an example of MVC would be the amount of global coverage expected for a satellite constellation, while MVP would be the number of satellites required to provide such coverage.

OCT laser links among satellites built by different companies has been a point of concern and one that DoD has sought to alleviate with the Enterprise Management and Control effort (Defense Daily, March 19, 2024).

SDA developed an OCT standard of 2.5 gigabits per second data transmission–“relatively lower than some commercial technologies that transmit data at 100 gigabits per second,” according to GAO.

“DoD officials stated that the lower rate was due, in part, to the need to conform to DoD data encryption requirements, which do not support the higher data rates,” the report said.

The OCTs are to accelerate communications with military forces in the field significantly, compared to traditional radio frequency communications.

COVID-19 related supply chain problems, such as with electronic boards, slowed the efforts of SDA, which has had two-year “tranche” advanced system development/fielding cycles under fixed price contracts as the agency’s lodestar (Defense Daily, May 24, 2022).

“While SDA has taken considerable steps to prioritize speed, this has had consequences,” according to the new GAO report, adding that “SDA does not yet fully understand what will and will not work in [Tranche 0].”

“Without demonstrating key laser communications technology capabilities, or MVPs, SDA is risking not being able to leverage past experiences into the investments either under contract or planned for in the future,” GAO said. “These investments are substantial–nearly $35 billion.”

Navy Issues RFI Survey For More Counter-Uncrewed Systems

The Navy on Wednesday issued a Request for Information (RFI) survey to find a wider range of low collateral defeat (LCD) Counter Uncrewed Systems (C-UXS) solutions.

According to the notice, the survey is meant to act as a “living document” so respondents can save and update their responses with LCD capabilities that can focus on homeland defense and defending U.S. installations. Submissions will be evaluated for potential inclusion in future test events, demonstrations and continuous monitoring of the C-UXS market.

The RFI is focused on helping DoD’s Executive Agent for Counter-Small Unmanned Aerial Systems (C-sUAS), the Joint C-sUAS Office (JCO).

Air Force Research Laboratory’s Tactical High Power Responder developed for airbase defense. Photo: AFRL Directed Energy Directorate

The notice described LCD as a method to counter sUAS with “minimal collateral damage in situations where friendly forces and/or civilians are in close proximity to the threat” or regulation does not allow for electronic attack or kinetic effectors with a broader down-range impact.

Thus, LCD is designed to avoid harming innocent bystanders, structures and anything not targeted with precisions and creating low probability of collateral damage. Defeat is not just destroying a UXS, but can include disruption, disabling or neutralizing the threat system.

The RFI description noted while the C-sUAS community has generally viewed low collateral defeat as requiring airborne intercept and capture solutions, it acknowledged that “alternative methods of low collateral sUAS defeat exist in various stages of development and an intercept vehicle is not the only method available to achieve a low collateral sUAS defeat.”

The Navy notice said it is “incumbent on the C-sUAS [Community of Interest] to explore the full range of low collateral defeat options.”

U.S. Air Force Senior Airman Austin Geter (left), 51st Security Forces Squadron (51st SFS) counter small unmanned aircraft systems (C-sUAS) program manager, shows U.S. Air Force Lt. Col. Winell de Mesa (right), 7th Air Force force protection division chief, the detection capabilities of one of the C-sUAS tools used by the 51st SFS on March 22, 2023 at Osan Air Base, Republic of Korea (U.S. Air Force Photo)

The survey lists four methods for the low-collateral defeat of small UASs: energy like coherent monochromatic light or electromagnetic radiation/lasers and high-power microwave; kinetic means to defeat the system via kinetic impact interceptor or ballistic projectiles; seize, disrupt or physically disabling sUAS in-fight and deliver to a safe location to be made inert; and electronic warfare systems to jam its communication and navigation systems, attack control systems or protocol manipulation.

The survey asks respondents questions including where in the kill chain their capabilities operate; how long does it take to export data from its system for post-event analysis; what domain components primarily operate in; if the system is fixed, mobile, or man-portable; does it have a LCD capability; the cost of 1, 10 and 100 systems; what type of detection capability, mitigation technology in the kill chain, defeat capability effectors, and system track methods do they use; maximum ranges for different size targets; and typical lead time needed to participate in an experimentation event.

Notably, the survey confirms they are looking for systems to defeat various sizes of unmanned aerial, surface and subsurface vehicles, including from UUVs that can be launched and recovered from submarines.

Kratos And RAFAEL Partner To Join Growing Field Of Rocket Motor Makers

Kratos Defense & Security Solutions [KTOS] and Israel’s RAFAEL Defense Systems

on Wednesday said they have formed a joint venture to become a U.S.-based merchant supplier of solid rocket motors (SRMs), joining a crowding field of legacy and startups vying to meet Defense Department demand that exceeds current supply.

Prometheus Energetics, an “approximate 50-50” partnership, will be based on a 500-acre site near a Navy and Army facility in Crane, Ind. The companies are contributing a combined $175 million to establish Prometheus, including property, equipment, and personnel for the “state-of-the-art energetics manufacturing campus and facilities.”

Production of SRMs is expected to begin in 2027. The companies said RAFAEL is transferring technology that must be certified for operations. RAFAEL in Israel makes SRMs and warheads, including for that country’s Iron Dome missile defense system.

L3Harris Technologies [LHX] and Northrop Grumman [NOC] are the two primary U.S. suppliers of SRMs to the Defense Department. Nammo, which is based in Norway and has operations in the U.S., also supplies SRMs to U.S. prime contractors.

In addition to the legacy providers, startups Anduril Industries, Firehawk Aerospace, Ursa Major, and X-Bow Systems are developing SRMs for different applications. And General Dynamics [GD], in partnership with support from Lockheed Martin [LMT] and the DoD, is also entering the SRM fray.

The three-year-old Russo-Ukraine War, which quickly became an attrition slugfest, exposed weaknesses in U.S. magazine depth for missiles and munitions, prompting demand that exceed the supply of rocket motors to power the various kinetic projectiles.

Kratos designed the 32.5-inch stage one and two SRMs that were built by L3Harris for the Zeus rocket that was tested in a suborbital flight last fall (Defense Daily, Nov. 7, 2024).

“Like other major Kratos investments such as Oriole, Zeus, and Erinyes, Prometheus responds to a critical need to strengthen the U.S industrial base and will also provide 10s of thousands of SRMs and casted warheads supporting both America’s most reliable partner in the Middle East and United States national security-related demand from a true SRM and energetics merchant supplier,” Eric DeMarco, president and CEO of Kratos, said in a statement.

House Narrowly Passes Budget Blueprint With $100 Billion For Defense

The House on Tuesday evening narrowly passed a budget resolution that sets a blueprint for passing Trump administration priorities via the reconciliation process, to include spending $100 billion on defense over four years.

The 217-215 vote along party lines to pass the measure followed uncertainty in the House over Republican holdouts who sought deeper spending cuts, to include GOP leadership pulling the measure and then immediately putting it back on the floor when the necessary votes had been secured.

House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) gives his remarks in honor of WWII Ghost Army veterans, formerly assigned to the 23rd Headquarters Special Troops and the 3133rd Signal Service Company, during a special ceremony at Emancipation Hall, U.S. Capitol Visitors Center in Washington, D.C., March 21, 2024. (U.S. Army photo by Henry Villarama)

“Today, House Republicans moved Congress closer to delivering on President Trump’s full America First agenda — not just parts of it,” House GOP leadership wrote in a joint statement following passage. “This momentum will grow as we work with our committee chairs and Senate Republicans to determine the best policies within their respective jurisdictions to meet budgetary targets. We have full confidence in their ability to chart the best path forward.”

Ultimately, Rep. Thomas Massie (R-Ky.) was the sole Republican to vote against the budget resolution, citing concerns that the measure would add to the deficit.

The Senate passed its own budget resolution along party lines on Feb. 21, which supports a two-step approach to reconciliation that would start with a defense-border security-energy bill, to include $150 billion defense, before taking on a second measure focused on tax and spending cuts (Defense Daily, Feb. 21).

President Trump last week endorsed the House’s proposal which takes a one-bill, all-encompassing approach that supports $300 billion in total new spending related to defense and border security priorities and includes a $4 trillion debt limit increase and an extension of the 2017 tax cuts instituted by the first Trump term (Defense Daily, Feb. 19).

The reconciliation process would allow the Senate, when the bill gets there, to pass billions of dollars in budget-related Trump administration priorities without requiring the 60-vote threshold needed to break the filibuster, while the House will require a near-unified GOP caucus to support the measure facing likely unanimous Democratic opposition.

The House and Senate’s competing budget resolutions both don’t provide a specific breakdown of how the additional funds should be spent over the four years covered by the pending reconciliation bill, tasking committees to determine how the spending would be authorized.

Lockheed Martin Reveals New Scalable Counter-Drone System

Lockheed Martin [LMT] on Wednesday said it recently conducted a field test for a new Scalable Counter-Unmanned Aerial System (C-UAS) Solution as part of a set of upcoming events.

The company said this is a modular, open-architecture solution uses “combat-proven command and control with artificial intelligence-enabled detect and track software, low-cost sensors” and an increasing set of effectors.

This vaguely named system was designed to allow quick deployment and “seamless integration with other systems,” Lockheed Martin said.

It added the modular open systems approach allows it to be quickly integrated with the best options of sensors, effectors and command and control enhancements so it can provide “flexibility and adaptability for dynamic threat evolutions.”

The company also said it is designed “to simplify collaboration with partners” and uses AI-driven software to improve operator efficiency against individual UAS and swarm raid threats.

“Integrating diverse sensors through a user-optimized command and control (C2) system helps simplify threat identification, and we have the complementary technology offerings to convert collected data into actionable information,” Tyler Griffin, C-UAS director at Lockheed Martin, said in a statement.

“Our open architecture approach offers an agile, layered defense solution that accelerates outcomes relative to this dynamic threat. This foundational demo highlights how we can deliver the mission today and sets the stage for what Lockheed Martin and our partners will deliver in weeks and months ahead,” he continued.

The company did not disclose when and where the recent field event occurred, but characterized it as the first in a series of “innovative showcases” with the scalable, layered C-UAS defense system.

Lockheed Martin said in the initial event the company and its undisclosed partners successfully showcase the system’s ability to detect, track and perform mitigation techniques against a mix of small UAVs, including individual and swarm scenarios.

This could be in line with an unnamed system Lt. Gen. Eric Austin described last month for dismounted Marines. At the time, the commander of the Marine Corps Combat Development Command and deputy commandant for combat development and integration said newly-granted acquisition authorities through a cross-functional team and fusion cell helped them field a new ground-based C-UAS defense capability to be deployed this year (Defense Daily, Jan. 31).

Austin said his man-portable system has several subsets focused on a suite of C-UAS capabilities and can leverage multiple detection and defeat mechanisms.

Sea-Based Launch Platform Company Seagate Space Exits Stealth

Seagate Space Corp. announced its formation yesterday with a goal to provide offshore launch platforms to expand access to space.

The Florida-based company said it is targeting early 2026 for demonstration launches and is in discussions with potential launch partners.

The offshore launch platforms offer lower costs, modular, and mobile solutions to meet increasing launch demand amid limited onshore facilities, the company said.

Seagate’s co-founders are Sean Fortener, former head of innovation at Crowley Maritime

, and Michael Anderson, the company’s CEO and a previous leader with Deloitte’s Future of Mobility consulting practice.

“Seagate Space was founded on a vision to bring launch facilities into the 21st Century, Fortener, chief revenue and operations officer, said in a statement. “The modern space industry has evolved dramatically. Today’s focus is on frequent, responsive, efficient access to space. Our systems will be built to enable this new breed of launch vehicles.”

The company’s Gateway S system is designed for the small launch vehicle market, in particular for liquid fueled rockets currently in commercial use, Fortener told Defense Daily in an email reply to questions.

The Spaceport Company, another startup, is also developing sea-based, mobile launch platforms (Defense Daily, May 28, 2024). The company has already demonstrated multiple rocket launches from a modified ship.

Army Aims To Begin Fielding First Autonomous Logistics Trucks In FY ‘27

The Army is aiming to begin fielding its first autonomous heavy logistics trucks in fiscal year 2027, pending budget plans, officials detailed this week.

Kyle Bruner, the Army’s project manager for projection, confirmed that self-driving technology startup Forterra and autonomous systems firm

Carnegie Robotics were chosen this past fall to continue working on the Autonomous Transport Vehicle System (ATV-S) program and with the service planning to downselect to one vendor around the third quarter of FY ‘26.

Carnegie Robotics’ ATV-S prototype (Carnegie Robotics)

“This assumes successful testing and continued support in the Army’s budget,” Bruner said in a statement to Defense Daily.

The ATV-S program is intended to outfit potentially hundreds of the Army’s Palletized Load System heavy trucks, built by Oshkosh Defense [OSK], with software and hardware to enable autonomous operations.

“The integration of autonomous systems for resupply, maintenance and energy distribution will be a gamechanger,” Maj. Gen. Michelle Donahue, head of the Army’s Combined Arms Support Command, said in remarks at the National Defense Industrial Association’s Tactical Wheeled Vehicles Conference on Tuesday.“We will capitalize on ATV-S’ autonomous replenishment of critical commodities to extend the division commanders’ operational reach and his or her endurance.”

Donahue said the current continuing resolution, which forces the Army to operate under FY ‘24 spending levels until Congress passes full FY ‘25 appropriations, is impacting the ability to move ahead on ATV-S, which could lead to the planned fielding timeline extending from 18 months out to 24 months.

In December 2023, the Army first announced it had awarded three Other Transaction Authority Agreements totaling $14.8 million to Forterra, Carnegie Robotics and software firm Neya Systems to work on the first phase of ATV-S to work on developing and demonstrating four prototypes.

“The desired capability of ATV-S is to provide uncrewed operation of tactical wheeled vehicles in support of logistics operations. ATV-S mission sets will include support convoy operations, waypoint navigation, and teleoperations. These mission sets will reduce soldier exposure to hostile threats while increasing logistics throughput,” the Army said in a statement at the time.

The Army then decided in late October 2024 to move forward with Forterra and Carnegie Robotics on Phase 2 of ATV-S, covering two more prototypes and Army testing and an operational demonstration, while Bruner told Defense Daily that the value of those awards “were not publicly released.”

Bruner, in remarks at the NDIA TWV conference, said Phase 2 of the program includes a “much more laid out test plan to hit all aspects of safety, suitability and sustainability.”

“We are hampered a little bit under the continuing resolution, but we expect to get over that hump here and then continue the testing later this year,” Bruner said.

Following Phase 2, the Army is intending to select one vendor for Phase 3 in FY ‘26 to build 35 more prototypes, for a total of 41 vehicles to support a “first unit issued” milestone.

The ATV-S program is intended to integrate with the PLS truck’s “digital backbone” to provide “manned and unmanned teaming capability for convoy operations” utilizing sensors, controllers and autonomy software, according to a slide Bruner presented.

“ATV-S-equipped Palletized Load System [trucks] will allow a single soldier to lead a convoy of four wirelessly linked unmanned PLS [trucks] reducing soldier exposure to hostile threats while increasing transportation throughput,” the slide stated.

Donahue said on Tuesday that ATV-S is expected to increase the Army’s Composite Truck Companies sustainment throughput by 50 percent while also having the ability to autonomously navigate “varied and unpredictable routes while maintaining continuous movement.”

“We’re going to have to think through what it means to operate autonomous trucks on U.S. highways. We’re going to have to think about what this means for commanders to take risk in knowing that there’s always a human in the loop for that system somewhere in that convoy. But this is a critical capability,” Donahue said. “This will be the most transformation that the sustainment community makes really since we introduced trucks back in like 1915.”

Bruner added that, while ATV-S will begin by enabling tele-operations, the Army has “a pathway to full autonomy” that it will work on over the next several years.

The Army’s plan is to extend ATV-S beyond its PLS fleet to include the future Common Tactical Truck (CTT) platforms, Bruner noted.

“I think we’re going to see, as we have new truck production coming in the next few years, [those] will come off the line autonomy-ready. In other words, [they] will have that digital backbone on it and those safety systems that ATV-S relies upon,” Bruner said.

The Army in January 2023 selected Oshkosh Defense, Mack Defense, ND Defense and a team of American Rheinmetall and GM Defense [GM] for its CTT prototyping program to inform its search for replacing its Family of Heavy Tactical Vehicles fleet (Defense Daily, Jan. 30 2023).