The U.S. Marine Corps looks to expand the use of autonomous technologies in the military branch’s air, ground and sea operations, Marine Corps Times reported Wednesday.Matthew Schehl writes the 3rd Battalion, 5th Marines currently works on wargaming robotic technologies that will serve as the ground combat element for the 31st Marine Expeditionary Unit beginning 2017.
One of those technologies is General Dynamics‘ Multipurpose Unmanned Tactical Transport, an all-terrain vehicle designed to move up to 600 pounds of payload at eight miles per hour, Schehl reported.
“[Autonomous systems] will interface with a human just like a subordinate fire team leader who goes back to their squad leader when they have something to report or need new orders,” said James Jenkins, director of science and technology at the Marine Corps’ warfighting laboratory.
The Marine Corps joined a U.S. Army program in June to create a robotic variant of Malloy Aeronautics‘ Hoverbike turbo fan-powered quadcopter that would feature a 125-mile range and payload capacity of 800 pounds.
