The US programme dedicated to the introduction of robotic systems in the armed forces has a history spanning several decades, during which investment has grown significantly. Since 2014, when the investment in the US Army alone amounted to $20 million, it has soared to over $300 million approved by Congress in 2020.
These figures refer to public data, since, as of 2021, most of the information on these investments has become classified and subject to state secrecy, making it difficult, if not impossible, to estimate the size of future investments.
Despite the confidentiality surrounding the recent figures, statements made at the conference AUSA Global Force by a senior US Army officer shed light on a further significant development, announcing that a drone and robotics platoon could be introduced within the armoured fighting brigades.
In particular, the Brigadier General Geoffrey Norman, director of the Next Generation Combat Vehicle Cross Functional Team, confirmed that updates on force remodelling are ongoing: "We are in the process of integrating through the current defence system, it is still too early to talk about numbers." stated.
These new platoons would be identified as robotic and autonomous systems, or RAS Platoonssignalling a step forward in the integration of robotics into military operations.
With 11 active armoured combat brigades and five in the National Guard, the US Army could deploy 16 RAS platoons, assigning one to each brigade, as well as extending them to other types of combat brigades, such as infantry brigades, further increasing this number.
Ukraine and Russia have been using drones since the beginning of the conflict, employing ground robots for missions ranging from evacuating the wounded to transporting supplies to areas under attack. The US military currently has two RAS platoons, one in the 82nd Airborne Division and an experimental platoon at the Maneuver Centre of Excellence the army.
RAS platoons recently demonstrated their capabilities during the Project Convergence, a military technology testing event where drone-borne robotic vehicles flew over a city before armed ground robots went into action, at the National Training Centre at Fort Irwin in California, using a variety of drones, including the Ghost-X and the Squad Multipurpose Equipment Transport (SMET)a transport vehicle that can be equipped with a Javelin anti-tank weapon.
Norman emphasised that modularity, understood as the ability to replace components to suit different missions, is a key element of the programme.
However, despite the progress made, several problems still remain to be addressed.
The General Glenn Dean, programme manager for land combat systems, highlighted the challenges associated with controlling high-speed vehicles, revealing that vehicles exceeding 25 mph struggle to send images fast enough for soldiers to react in real time, due to network restrictions and the available frequency spectrum.
Delving deeper, Dean pointed out a systemic issue: "There is not enough spectrum assigned to military operations in the way we conduct them today." referring to limitations in the frequency bands used by both military and civil users, ranging from radar to WiFi, and emphasising the need for an upgrade or expansion of the dedicated frequency spectrum to accommodate the communication needs of military operations.
Direct control of the robots is still an important element as the systems do not yet have sufficient capacity to operate autonomously "Autonomy has not yet reached the levels we aspire to achieve"Norman concluded.
Travis Thompson, deputy director of the Soldier Lethality Cross Functional Team at theArmy Futures Command, pointed out that the enhancement of the RAS Platoons will have a significant impact on the safety of soldiers, who traditionally account for the majority of casualties in conflicts.
If the army can optimise the use of these systems, we can save many lives on the battlefield'. stressed 'We are talking about exchanging steel for human lives' .
