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They look like they rolled straight out of a Terminator movie.
Futuristic robotic combat vehicles were on display this week at a Texas A&M campus to show off existing military technology to the Army Futures Command, an Austin-based post that develops future war fighting concepts for the U.S. Army
It was the first such demonstration at the A&M Rellis campus, a 2,000-acre former military training base that gave the vehicle operators plenty of space to work with, university spokesman Laylan Copelin said.
“They spent all week putting [the vehicles] through their paces and evaluating the vehicles,” Copelin said
Academic researchers, military members and reporters got the chance to see the tanks and Humvees in action this week.
To participate, the vehicles had to travel off-road and on paved roads at speeds up to 75 miles per hour, carrying a payload of 1,000 pounds, the release said. The vehicle needed to be capable of operating out of the line of sight in all weather conditions. They also needed to work at a distance of 500 to 700 meters from the operator station.
Some vehicles had mounted gun turrets, but they didn’t live fire during the demonstration, Copelin said. The vehicles did, however, drive through simulated urban environments to “see how [the vehicles] navigate city streets.”
Col . Warren Sponsler, deputy director of the Next Generation Cross-Functional Team, said robotic combat vehicles will help reduce the risk to soldiers.
“There are a lot of dirty, dangerous things our soldiers do on the battlefield today,” he said in a university news release. “Robotic combat vehicles could do those things for them.”
>>> Click through the gallery to see the futuristic vehicles