Feature MT 3/2022 · 21 stakeholders (governmental and military, as well as public opinion) and companies betting on UGVs are not pre-positioned in a market that is expected to skyrocket. The most interesting experiment in this sense is Milrem Robotics’ Type-X – a development programme for a 12t unmanned combat vehicle, featuring a remote turret armed with a 20-50mm cannon, with optional missile launchers. It has rubber tracks and the height, including the tower, has been limited to 2.2m, making it air-transportable in aircraft such as the C-130 Hercules or KC-390 (a single vehicle), A400M or An-70 (two vehicles) or C-17 Globesmaster III (up to five). In principle, the vehicle can also be deployed by heavy-lift helicopters, such as the CH-53K King Stallion or Mi-6 Hip. The prototype comes with a Cockerill CPWS II turret – a low-profile, lightweight turret, with a revolutionary hatch and mounting either the M242 25x137mm Bushmaster cannon or the 230LF 30x113mm cannon. It is equipped with a 360° panoramic sight, with CCD, thermal and fused imaging. All in all, the CPWS is an entirely suitable partner to the Type-X Robotic Combat Vehicle – additionally mounting anti-tank missiles, for instance, such as the Instalaza Alcotan, MBDA’s MMP, Raytheon’s Javelin or the Rafael Spike family. Milrem envisages convoy defence and perimeter or base defence as the initial tasks that a system of this kind could be assigned to in the short term. Each system consists of two vehicles, with a third vehicle needed for crews – two operators for each system, driver, and gunner. In the future, the crew requirement might be reduced to a single individual, while the vehicle will be enabled to conduct a growing number of autonomous missions. Milrem’s proprietary Intelligent Functions Kit (IFK), already developed for the THeMIS, converts any vehicle into a self-driving or remotely controlled asset. In principle, the launch of the Type-X will inform a wider range of solutions, based on larger UGVs equipped with 90120mm cannon – possibly as complements to or replacements for MBTs. Changing Mentality According to the Oryx database on Ukrainian and Russian equipment involved and disabled in the conflict to date, Russian troops have lost up to 2,000 armoured vehicles, including 318 MBTs, which offers different doctrinal perspectives: one, quantity has its own quality, sometimes – numbers matter for the ability to sustain high attrition rates; two, heavy losses in armoured vehicles (and trained crews!) again triggers the debate on future warfare and the role of traditional assets. Only time will tell whether MBTs and AFVs will continue to exist as we now know them. Meanwhile, recent conflicts fuel the ascendancy of unmanned assets in all fields. On land, China, Russia, Turkey, and the US are already investing in development of entirely unmanned MBTs, and IFVs with a certain degree of autonomy. Russia is the most active, with 37 different models produced by eight companies in collaboration with research institutes. While most western UGVs are multipurpose by design, Russian UGVs are specialised, with each vehicle built for a single role. Among them, the Uran-9 can be considered unique – the first to be operationally tested (in Syria and Ukraine) underlining the Russian ambition to operate entire echelons and, perhaps, battalions of UGVs capable of replacing infantry and IFVs in high-risk situations. Therefore, Russia will continue improving its Uran-9 as well as its most encouraging models, such as the Marker and Nerechta ISR vehicles, Platforma-M and Soratnik combat vehicles and Uran-6/14 engineer vehicles. In Europe, funds for large UGVs have been scarce so far, and armed forces have almost no planning for them. Debates and feasibility studies continue, but developments in this segment are rather supply-side. However, war at the gates is helping to create a different mentality among
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