Unmanned ground vehicles for the US Marine Corps: American Rheinmetall to deliver Mission Master SP

A contract worth 7.28 million US dollars (6.3 million euros) has been awarded to the subsidiary American Rheinmetall to support the US Marine Corps. It covers the production and delivery of Mission Master SP autonomous unmanned ground vehicles (A-UGVs), the associated marine kits and supplementary equipment. The procurement is handled by the Defense Logistics Agency (DLA); ADS acts as prime contractor, and the beneficiary is to be the US Marine Corps Warfighting Laboratory (MCWL).

Twelve vehicles, five amphibious kits

The delivery comprises 12 Mission Master SP A-UGVs and five amphibious marine kits. It is the most advanced configuration of the Rheinmetall-developed Mission Master family to date. As the Marine Corps expands its autonomous logistics and expeditionary mobility, the vehicles are to be used for ongoing operational evaluation, experimentation and capability development.

This contract is a significant milestone in our long-standing partnership with the United States Marine Corps— Matt Warnick, CEO of American Rheinmetall

For more than four years we have worked side by side with the Marines to further develop and refine autonomous ground capabilities. The Mission Master SP brings these insights together and underlines Rheinmetall's commitment to delivering state-of-the-art, reliable and mission-ready autonomous systems.— Matt Warnick, CEO of American Rheinmetall

Close cooperation within the Rheinmetall Group enables the US Marine Corps to deploy the Mission Master SP in joint scenarios and to push the boundaries of Canadian innovation even further.— Pietro Mazzei, President and CEO of Rheinmetall Canada

Path autonomy and amphibious upgrade

The new Mission Master SP are distinguished by Rheinmetall's Path autonomy architecture, enhanced vehicle characterisation and modular payload integration. The marine kit also gives them an upgrade that enables reliable and extended amphibious operations in littoral waters. These improvements draw on extensive user feedback, developmental testing, live-fire exercises and operational trials.

The procurement also includes a broad service package: programme management, technical support, logistics coordination, technical documentation, operator training and acceptance testing. American Rheinmetall leads in the United States; Rheinmetall Canada contributes engineering expertise and production as original equipment manufacturer (OEM) and technology partner.

Maine as the future Advanced Land Autonomy Center of Excellence

American Rheinmetall's strategy is to build up its own capabilities in autonomous ground vehicles in the United States and to advance technology transfer over the long term – the project fits seamlessly into this. It also supports the site in Maine that Rheinmetall is currently establishing and which is to serve as the US Advanced Land Autonomy Center of Excellence (ALACOE).

The centre of excellence will deal with Path integration, production, maintenance and life-cycle support. The contract brings future manufacturing in the United States, together with long-term local maintenance, an important step closer.

Unmanned ground vehicles for distributed operations

For the Marine Corps, the Mission Master SP systems are a key building block for strengthening autonomous logistics, enabling distributed operations and gaining operational reach – with the lowest possible risk to personnel. The vehicles were designed specifically for forward-looking concepts such as Expeditionary Advanced Base Operations (EABO) and multi-domain operations.

The project builds on a series of significant milestones:

• more than four years of successful cooperation with the US Marine Corps
• Fleet Marine Force: twelve Mission Master systems successfully deployed in its support
• marine kit for amphibious tasks developed and integrated
• Fieldranger remote weapon station integrated and introduced
• autonomous Path capabilities continuously developed
• American Rheinmetall's ALACOE initiative, whose establishment is imminent