TACTICAL WHEELED VEHICLES Army Ponders Autonomy’s Place in Wheeled Vehicle Fleet By Laura Heckmann Textron Systems image PITTSBURGH, Pennsylvania — Autonomy stands to play a pivotal role in logistics operations, improving efficiency and removing warfighters from dangerous environments. The Army is focused on integrating the technology into its tactical wheeled vehicle fleet, but navigating its role remains a work in progress. Autonomy in logistics operations “is the game changer that we’re going to see, similar to when the truck was introduced in the military in the early 1900s,” said Army Chief of Transportation Col. William Arnold. The Army is in the process of rolling out a new tactical wheeled vehicles strategy, and autonomy is “really important to the strategy,” Arnold said during a talk at the National Defense Industrial Association’s Tactical Wheeled Vehicles Conference. Col. Eric Anderson, division chief for capability development sustainment, said a vehicle fleet ready for a contested environment, increased operational reach and endurance in large-scale combat operations will be mostly autonomous. The service is seeking autonomy-ready platforms with digital backbones, Arnold said, “creating a fleet that can be upgraded at the speed of the software changes.” Lt. Col. William Sitze, military deputy for the G-3/5/7 Army Integration Group, said opportunities for unmanned and autonomous ground systems are “pretty huge right now.” Battlefield geometry and operational reach are increasing, he said during a talk at the conference. “However, we still have from the higher headquarters … an end-strength goal that we’ve got to continue to work within, so technology that allows us to accomplish more tasks with the same amount of people, or less people, is very, very important.” The Army is pursuing several autonomous vehicle platforms, as well as looking for ways to add the technology to existing systems. The Autonomous Transport Vehicle System, or ATV-S,