Robot Support Vehicle Preparing for Battle

Lockheed Martin developers are stepping up their efforts to prepare the Squad Mission Support System (SMSS) for battle. The SMSS, in development for the past several years, is a small, mobile 2,500-pound manned and unmanned transport vehicle. The rationale for the vehicle, according to its developers, is to bring a logistical and tactical advantage to fast-moving squads of soldiers operating with light infantry units. “We feel there is a need for this system for light forces, and we will look at the Special Operations community. The vehicle will be small enough and transportable enough with light forces [that] are often airdropped into a combat location,” said Don Nimblett, manager for business development for unmanned systems at Lockheed Martin. The SMSS is semi-autonomous in certain respects, say Lockheed developers; it can be controlled by a small, remote hand-held device or by a small wearable computer traveling with a soldier. The vehicle is equipped with Global Positioning System (GPS) enhanced software, allowing it to conduct a “terrain analysis” through which the vehicle assesses and predicts where it can travel before charting a course. “Our goal is to develop a system with some degree of autonomy which can operate like a soldier,” Nimblett said. Developers say the SMSS, successfully tested last July at Fort Knox, Ky., can swim, climb mountains and handle all kinds of rigorous terrain.