Squad Mission Support System

Lore & Background

The SMSS was developed for the US Army as a transport and logistics support vehicle. The Block 0 version could travel up to 15 mph and carry up to 1200 lb of gear, with an unloaded weight of up to 4000 lb. It could potentially be parachuted from an aircraft and could be driven by an operator, remotely operated, or operate in supervised autonomy. Currently unarmed, there are plans to arm it with either RPG or small missile systems.

The Block 1 version went to Afghanistan for a military utility assessment in late 2011. It featured a lighter frame, infrared driving lights, a smaller and more efficient sensor package, and insulated exhaust and hydraulics for quieter operation. It weighed 3800 lb unloaded, carried a 1200 lb payload, and had a 125 mi operating range. Four vehicles were deployed to Afghanistan from January to May 2012, used for resupplying small combat outposts and construction projects. One unit carried 10000 lb of supplies over two days to an outpost two kilometers away, and soldiers once overloaded a vehicle with an estimated 4000 lb of sandbags and drove it up a 30-degree slope. While initially planned as a squad-level asset, it was used more at the platoon level.

In February 2013, the SMSS performed a demonstration controlled by satellite 200 miles from its operator, using an adjustable-height mast with a Gyrocam 9M for on-the-move electro-optical and thermal video. The demonstration proved that autonomy, vehicle mobility, surveillance sensors, and satellite communications could provide battlefield situational awareness without human intervention. From 7-10 October 2013, the SMSS took part in the US Army's Squad Multipurpose Equipment Transport (S-MET) program at Fort Benning, Georgia, but was not selected to continue trials. On 7 August 2014, the SMSS was used in an exercise combining an unmanned ground vehicle and an unmanned K-MAX helicopter, both Lockheed Martin systems, to demonstrate operations in areas deemed too risky for human presence.

Reader's Guide

The SMSS's significance lies in its role as a testbed for autonomous ground logistics and its operational evaluation in Afghanistan, where it demonstrated the ability to carry heavy loads over challenging terrain, including a documented instance of carrying an estimated 4000 lb of sandbags up a 30-degree slope. Its deployment highlighted both the potential and limitations of unmanned ground vehicles in combat support, as the vehicles mostly traveled on roads due to difficulty discerning soldiers from obstacles like trees. The system's participation in the S-MET program and its integration with the K-MAX helicopter in a 2014 exercise showed efforts to combine UAV and UGV capabilities for beyond-line-of-sight missions. The SMSS also proved the feasibility of satellite-controlled teleoperation and autonomous navigation for surveillance, contributing to the development of supervised autonomy in military robotics. Its legacy includes informing improvements such as adding a manipulator arm for self-loading and increasing power output for use as a mobile operations center, though it was not selected for the S-MET program.