US Army to Limit Early Robotic Combat Vehicle Missions for Soldier Safety

Picture: An RCV Light at desert testing. (Original image by Savannah Baldwin/ US Army; Code image by Markus Spiske via Pexels; Graphic by Breaking Defence)

Earlier this year, US Army soldiers tested prototype Robotic Combat Vehicles (RCVs) at Fort Irwin, California. This demonstration highlighted a key issue: the technology currently does not keep human soldiers far enough from danger.

The Army’s long-term goal is for autonomous software to handle most of the navigation for its future robotic fleet. However, since this technological challenge is expected to take years to resolve, the initial RCVs deployed will rely on a radio “tether.”

At Fort Irwin, this setup required five soldiers in a trailing vehicle to control two frontline RCVs. This configuration included one driver and two teams of two, each remotely operating an RCV, and the vehicles had to stay close enough to maintain the radio link. This proximity nearly defeats the purpose of using RCVs to perform dangerous tasks under fire, as envisioned by the Army.

“We need to get [soldiers] a little further back,” said Brig Gen. Geoffrey Norman, then the director of the Next-Generation Combat Vehicle Cross-Functional Team, shortly before retiring earlier this month. “If they’re inside the direct fire range, whether it’s from a cannon, direct fire, or anti-tank guided missiles, those control vehicles are very vulnerable.”

The Army has been aware for several years that its backup teleoperation setup poses technical challenges. Recent demonstrations, including one at this year’s Project Convergence capstone event, highlighted the severity of these challenges as the Army prepares to potentially field RCVs in fiscal 2028. With the future of autonomy unclear, the service is now considering changing mission sets, concepts of operations, and even technical solutions to make the tether work.

Despite these hurdles, Army leadership is determined to press ahead, convinced that field deployment is essential to advancing the development of its robotic fleet.

“It’s our first robot system like this [that] we’re actually going to keep,” Army acquisition head Doug Bush reiterated. “So, I’m not surprised that there’s turbulence in the key technologies, including the radio comm link, which is foundational to the whole thing and having that capability … being robust enough.”

“A ground environment is the hardest thing possible, it’s way harder and way harder on equipment than a [unmanned aerial vehicle] UAV,” Bush added.