Alfred Grein, acting director of the U.S. Army Combat Capabilities Development Command’s Ground Vehicle Systems Center, said the branch received four prototypes of its Robotic Combat Vehicle-Light platform from a QinetiQ North America–Pratt Miller partnership, Defense News reported Wednesday.
He told attendees at an Association of the U.S. Army event Tuesday efforts are underway at the center to equip the RCV-L units with government-developed autonomy software called Robotic Technology Kernel.
Last year, the Army selected QinetiQ NA to build four RCV-L prototypes and Textron (NYSE: TXT) to produce four medium RCVs through separate other transaction agreements.
Grein noted at the virtual AUSA event that the light model weighs less than 8,500 pounds, is powered by a diesel-electric hybrid system and can travel at a speed of up to 40 miles per hour.
According to the report, Army received in mid-February an RCV-M prototype that the team of Textron, Howe & Howe and FLIR Systems completed partially.
The report added the branch expects the Textron-led team to perform deliveries between late April and the following month.
Both RCV-L and RCV-M versions are scheduled to undergo shakedown testing from April to September at Michigan-based Camp Grayling, before transitioning to Fort Hood, Texas, for operational trials next year.
