Wolf Pack – Modular Mission Payloads for Quadruped Unmanned Ground Vehicles
Raymond Vázquez · SAE technical papers on CD-ROM/SAE technical paper series · 2023
United States adversaries are advancing unmanned systems (UxS) at an exponential rate. New advancements in lightweight intelligence, surveillance, reconnaissance (ISR) targeting sensors, size, weight, and power (SWAP) computational payloads, machine learning (ML) and artificial intelligence (AI), have generated an advanced threat to U.S forces. The recent conflict in Ukraine illustrates the usage of lethal, weaponized UxS at scale in both conventional and irregular warfare and demonstrates the need for robotic systems capable of autonomous precision targeting and kinetic defeat. [1] The Wolf Pack project aims at developing modular weapons payloads (MWP) for quadruped unmanned ground vehicles (Q-UGV). The MWP system would integrate precision targeting sensors, networked lethality software, narrow AI/ML precision trackers, and advanced fire control with weapon systems such as rifles (M4), anti-armor (AT-4) and tube lunched systems (40mm loitering munition). The MWP system would run on embedded, real-time, at the edge, computing modules where SWAP is very challenging. The Wolf Pack would be integrated across distributed lethal networks to enable collaborative and coordinated lethal effects.