- American Rheinmetall was awarded an 18-month U.S. Army contract for Project Sustainment to develop autonomous hybrid ground vehicles based on Harbinger's platform. - The vehicles will autonomously transport supplies to and from frontline troops, developed with partners Forterra and Primordial Labs. American Rheinmetall announced that the U.S. Army selected Harbinger’s plug-in hybrid vehicle platform as the basis for an autonomous unmanned ground vehicle contract awarded to the company, covering an 18-month effort to develop and deliver uncrewed vehicles under the Army’s Project Sustainment program. The contract runs through the National Advanced Mobility Consortium, known as NAMC, a government-industry partnership structure that lets the Army fund experimental vehicle technology development outside its traditional, slower acquisition process. American Rheinmetall will serve as the prime contractor overseeing the effort, meaning the company holds primary responsibility for delivering the finished vehicles even though the actual engineering work is split across multiple specialized partners. Project Sustainment addresses a problem that has grown more urgent as militaries worldwide watch drones and precision weapons increasingly target the unglamorous but essential work of getting supplies to frontline troops. The unmanned ground vehicles built under this contract are designed to autonomously transport supplies to and from what the Army calls the forward line of troops, the point on a battlefield closest to enemy contact, reducing the number of soldiers who need to physically drive a truck loaded with fuel, ammunition, or food through territory where an enemy drone or ambush could strike at any moment. The vehicle platform itself comes from Harbinger, a Southern California and Texas-based commercial vehicle manufacturer that built its business developing hybrid-electric chassis for delivery trucks and other medium-duty commercial vehicles before pivoting a version of that technology toward military applications. Harbinger’s defense-oriented platform, sometimes marketed under the name Praesidia, is designed to be