Wisconsin-based Oshkosh Defense recently announced that the U.S. Army Tank Automotive Research, Development, and Engineering Center (TARDEC) had awarded the company a $49 million contract to integrate existing Palletized Load System (PLS) vehicles with scalable autonomous technology. The deal is part of the Army’s Expedient Leader-Follower (ExLF) program.
Wherever possible, the ExLF platform looks to remove soldiers from vehicles operating in highly-contested areas. Oshkosh autonomous technology offers modes that include leader-follower, fully-autonomous, and teleoperation. This capability is seen as providing added flexibility in supporting manned or unmanned operations.
Under the contract, Oshkosh will integrate an initial 70 autonomy kits for Program Development and Operational Technical Demonstrations (OTD). The contract holds an option to procure up to 150 total autonomy kits for use in new and legacy vehicles. According to Oshkosh, soldiers can be trained to operate vehicles outfitted with their systems in a few days.
The PLS is used for delivering, unloading, and loading a wide range of materials. It can handle a diverse payload but is specially designed to load and unload flatrack or IOS compatible containers without assistance.
Image Credit: Oshkosh Defense/https://oshkoshdefense.com/products/vehicle-systems/