Ground drone Atlas CCV: BAE Systems Australia unveils autonomous 8×8 vehicle

BAE Systems Australia, the Australian subsidiary of BAE Systems, has presented a modern ground drone designed to keep soldiers out of the danger zone. The unmanned ground vehicle (UGV) is named the 8×8 Autonomous Tactical Light Armour System (Atlas) Collaborative Combat Variant (CCV) and was developed together with industry partners.

BAE Systems is thus following the trend of recent years, in which more and more autonomous systems have reached the battlefield. Atlas CCV is therefore to operate autonomously on the road as well as off-road, complementing crewed counterparts such as infantry fighting vehicles and main battle tanks – at lower cost.

Ground drone with an autonomous core

Thanks to the technologies used, the vehicle can be configured and upgraded for each mission. It thus evolves continuously to keep pace with future technologies and threats. At the heart of the Atlas CCV is an autonomous system with which the vehicle will “drive”, avoid obstacles, plan its route and make tactical decisions.

“We developed the Atlas vehicle to give soldiers an advantage on the modern battlefield. The result is an autonomous platform that performs the dull, dirty and dangerous tasks to be expected in a combat environment,” said Andrew Gresham, Managing Director – Defence Delivery at BAE Systems Australia.