Army Sees Progress With Leader-Follower Vehicle Technology.

• Author: Tadjdeh, Yasmin

The Army is attempting to leverage robotics and other capabilities to enable its "leader-follower" concept for vehicle convoys. After years of work, the Army has made strides in developing the technology.

At the height of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, roadside bombs planted by insurgents maimed and killed service-members and civilians alike, targeting vehicle convoys ferrying troops and supplies to bases.

To deal with the threat more immediately, the military invested billions of dollars into uparmored, mine-resistant vehicles that could withstand blasts better. At the same time, it kicked off an ongoing, long-term effort to build autonomous "leader-follow" tech that could cut down on the number of soldiers in harm's way in future fights as well as free up troops for other tasks.

The service is demonstrating progress. It has tested its leader-follower autonomy software at events such as Project Convergence 2021, where the Army tried out technology that can support its offering for the Pentagon's joint all-domain command and control concept. Additional work is being conducted at bases such as Fort Polk, Louisiana, and Fort Sill, Oklahoma.

The Army has primarily been using what it calls palletized load systems, or PLS, unmanned follower vehicles, during its experiments, said Maj. Benjamin Hormann, expedient leader-follower project officer at Combat Capabilities Development Command's Ground Vehicle Systems Center. Soldiers from the 41 ST Transportation Company currently own 60 M1075 PLS trucks that are equipped with an autonomy system.

"The unit received new equipment training over two years ago and has implemented a 'train-the-trainer' strategy in order to maintain proficiency throughout the year," he said in an email. "This unit provides real-time feedback to software developers and engineers that get them the capability they want/need very quickly."

The vehicles are currently using a software version known as LF 1.3.

The Ground Vehicle Systems Center is employing what it calls an "engineering in the dirt concept" where soldier feedback is run through an agile software sprint to develop and update the system every 90 days, Hormann said. Meanwhile, the unit also provides information so requirements and doctrine can be updated.

The Army showed off its expedient leader-follower technology at the service's Project Convergence exercise at Yuma Proving Ground, Arizona, this past fall, he said. The annual experiment has been called a "campaign...