Rheinmetall Mission Master Unmanned Ground Vehicle: Düsseldorf based German defence company Rheinmetall and Spain’s machine manufacturer Escribano Mechanical & Engineering (EM&E) have unveiled two new modules for Rheinmetall Mission Master Autonomous Unmanned Ground Vehicle (A-UGV) equipped with EM&E sensors and weapons systems.
Both the companies have collaborated in recent months in order to develop and demonstrate these two new modules for Mission Master Unmanned Vehicles.
A series of demonstrations took place at EM&E’s new facilities in San Juan del Viso in the presence of Spanish government officials, including the Army chief of staff and international delegations.
A demonstration for Spanish King Felipe VI was also held at Viator in the Province Almería in southern Spain.
The demonstrations involved two Mission Master SP Autonomous Unmanned Ground Vehicles (A-UGVs).
“For these activities, a Mission Master SP – Fire Support was equipped with the Escribano Guardian 2.0 Remote Weapon Station (RWS), while a Mission Master SP – Surveillance carried the Escribano OTEOS sensor package,” Rheinmetall said in a statement sent to Defence Star.
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According to the company, during the demonstration, with the mast-mounted OTEOS, the Mission Master SP – Surveillance successfully detected a threat and automatically shared its location with the Mission Master SP – Fire support, triggering a slew-to-cue.
In the demonstration, several Mission Master control modes were showcased, including follow-me, autonomous navigation, and convoy modes.
Rheinmetall Mission Master Vehicle equipped with Escribano’s OTEOS electro-optical observation system.
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Mission Master Live Firing Support
Live firing with the Mission Master SP – Fire Support equipped with the Escribano Guardian 2.0 RWS in the Dillon Aero M134D configuration was conducted using UGV/RWS portable controllers integrated with a safety board architecture, allowing safe wireless firing.
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No automatic engagement of targets
The company also allayed the fears of any potential misuse of artificial intelligence (AI) and other computer programmes in the decision making process to fire on a target using its autonomous Mission Master combat vehicles.
“As with all Mission Master operations, targets are never engaged automatically,” Rheinmetall said in the statement.
“A human in the loop is always required for all kinetic decisions,” said the company while explaining the procedure for engagement of a target by the autonomous combat vehicle.
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View from Escribano’s OTEOS observation system.
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For Rheinmetall Canada, this series of demonstrations in Spain marks the first integration of an EM&E payload on its Mission Master SP A-UGV and its first collaboration with a Spanish company.
“This success underscores Rheinmetall’s mastery of system integration and the growing capabilities of its Mission Master family,” the German defence company added.
