The most significant progress in terms of terrestrial robots [UGV – Unmanned Ground Vehicles] were probably carried out by the Ukrainian army, the latter intended to obtain no less than 15,000 devices of this type, such as the Termit which, developed by the tencore group, can be used for transport, the evacuation of wounded and fire support, thanks to a machine gun and/or an MK19 grenade launcher.
However, several models of terrestrial robots likely to be armed have been revealed in recent years. Thus, in 2018, MBDA had partnered with the Estonian group Milrem Robotics to offer a Themis robot that can draw the anti -tank missile MP [ex-MMP, pour Missile Moyenne Portée]. For his part, KNDS France had followed the same approach with the Optio, which was none other than a Themis with a 20 mm barrel.
Since then, the offer has grown. In February, after having established a partnership with the engineering, KNDS France officially presented the Centurio X-30, a robot with a 30 mm barrel. More recently, during the Techterre event, organized for the first time by the command of the future combat [CCF]on July 9 and 10, Arquus unveiled the Drailer Marseus, called to be a “multiplier of power for the units landed”, thanks to its eight Akeron LP missiles supplied by MBDA.
It was still little, the army wanted to be cautious about the contribution of armed terrestrial robots: it was not until 2023 that it had such a machine drawn for the first time, when evaluating a themis equipped with a teleoperated tour supplied by the Belgian FN Herstal and a system of “command and control” designed by the company Glenair.
From now on, as General Bruno Baratz, the CCF chief, pointed out, robotization is an “imperative” for the army, as was mechanization in the 20th century. Also, some projects seem to accelerate, like that of the robot Aurochs, developed by the Franco-German Institute of Research in Saint-Louis [ISL].
During a hearing in the Senate, in November 2024, the chief of staff of the army [CEMAT]General Pierre Schill, had also said that the Aurochs was one of the most interesting. “The progress it will allow will be used in the later versions,” he said.
“How will these robots use?” First of all, in genius, for the demining mission; We already have robots in this area, it is a function allowing not to unnecessarily exhibit men. There will then be the logistics function, in particular to supply the flows between the rear and the front, such as the project of making promising robots capable of following a armored vehicle which will open the road, “then explained the CEMAT.
In addition, he also considered that the use of armed robots would be “more distant because it remains technically complex”. And to add: “difficulties remain to be resolved with regard to the movement and the control of the shooting”.
Anyway, an armed version of the Aurochs has just been assessed by the technical section of the Army [STAT]in Mourmelon. “The Battle Lab Terre project team was able to implement the tablet concretely [ATOMS] Integrating the fire function in its settings, up to a practical distance of 400 meters, “she said, via the LinkedIn social network, last week.
It is up to the ISL to “continue its integration work on the tablet of the features of the Tourelleau Defnder [de FN Herstal, pouvant être armé d’une mitrailleuse de 12,7 mm, ndlr] Before this robot was soon made available to the Directorate General of Armament for Technical Tests, “concluded the Stat.
Presented in 2019 as having to be a “mule” robot, the aurochs is equipped with an “autonomous guidance by artificial vision on a mission route with decimetric precision, without GPS and without drift”. Being able to avoid obstacles without having to be telehered, it has, according to the ISL, a “speed of progression and an outdoor all-terrain crossing capacity” and displays “exceptional maneuverability and motor skills” [suspensions, roues motrices électriques indépendantes, simple ou double essieu directeur].
Still according to the explanations of the ISL, now become a rustic “versatile robot”, the aurochs will be able to get ahead of the infantrymen in order to protect them against “any threat” thanks to its on -board cameras and, above all, its teleoperated Turrel up.
Photo: Technical section of the Army
